PayPal beats profit estimates as pandemic boosts online shopping

E-commerce payments processor PayPal Holdings Inc beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly revenue and profit on Monday, driven by a surge in online spending from consumers staying at home due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The company processed $247 billion (£191 billion) in payments during the quarter, up 38% from a year earlier.

On an adjusted basis, PayPal earned $1.07 per share. Analysts had expected it to earn 94 cents per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. It was not immediately clear, if estimates were comparable.

Net income jumped to $1.02 billion, or 86 cents per share, for the quarter ended Sept. 30, from $462 million, or 39 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue rose about 25% to $5.46 billion from $4.38 billion a year earlier, compared with analysts' average estimate of $5.43 billion.