: PayPal stock drops as eBay impacts weigh on earnings outlook

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PayPal Holdings Inc. largely matched expectations for its holiday quarter but delivered an earnings forecast that came up shy of expectations.

The payment-technology company reported fourth-quarter net income of $801 million, or 68 cents a share, down from $1.56 billion, or $1.32 a share, a year prior. On an adjusted basis, PayPal
PYPL,
+2.24%

earned $1.11 a share, up from $1.08 a share a year earlier, while the FactSet consensus was for $1.12 a share.

PayPal’s revenue came in at $6.9 billion for the fourth quarter, matching the FactSet consensus. A year prior, PayPal logged quarterly revenue of $6.1 billion.

The latest quarterly revenue performance brought PayPal’s annual total to $25.4 billion for 2021, up from $21.5 billion a year earlier.

The company saw $340 billion in fourth-quarter total payment volume, slightly below the FactSet consensus, which was for $345 billion. The TPV metric captures the dollar value of transactions running through PayPal’s platform.

PayPal had 426 million active accounts as of the end of 2021.

Shares were off nearly 15% in after-hours trading Tuesday as the company’s outlook came in light of expectations.

Looking to the first quarter, PayPal anticipates revenue growth of about 6%, or 14% when excluding impacts from eBay Inc.
EBAY,
+0.68%
,
which has been migrating volume away from PayPal as part of its own payments evolution.

The FactSet consensus calls for $6.76 billion in quarterly sales, which would be up about 12% from the $6.03 billion that PayPal reported a year earlier.

The company also projects first-quarter adjusted earnings per share of about 87 cents, while the FactSet consensus is for $1.16.

For the full year, the company expects growth in total payment volume of 19% to 22% at spot rates as well as revenue growth of 15% to 17%. PayPal also anticipates $4.60 a share to $4.75 a share in adjusted earnings for 2022. The FactSet consensus is for $5.21 in adjusted earnings.

PayPal expects that its revenue growth will accelerate as the year goes on.

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