PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL) said the fourth quarter of last year was the strongest in its history as the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic caused a boom in demand for digital payments.
In its results for the three months to December 31, 2020, delivered after Wednesday’s close, the payment platform reported earnings per share (EPS) of US$1.32, a 208% increase on the year-ago period, while revenues jumped 23% to US$6.1bn alongside 39% growth in total payment volumes (TPV) to US$277bn.
The figures came in ahead of market expectations, which had predicted revenues of US$6.09bn and TPV of US$267.9bn.
The numbers for the full-year were similarly record-breaking, with PayPal reporting EPS for 2020 of US$3.54, up 71% year-on-year, while revenues were up 22% at US$21.5bn and TPV grew 31% to US$936bn.
“PayPal delivered record performance in 2020 as businesses of all sizes have digitized in the wake of the pandemic. In this historic year, we released more products than ever before and have dramatically scaled our acceptance worldwide, giving our 377mln consumer and merchant accounts even more reasons to use our platform”, PayPal president and chief executive Dan Schulman said in a statement.
For the coming year, the company said it expects revenues for the first quarter to grow 28% and EPS of US$0.70. Meanwhile, for the full year, it expects TPV to grow “in the high 20’s on a percentage basis” alongside 19% growth in revenues and EPS of around US$3.20, a decline on the US$3.54 figure for 2020.