Square Shares Gain 5% After Hours As Payments Company Narrows Losses, Beats Q4 Expectations

Shares of Square Inc. rose more than 5% after hours on Wednesday, after the payments company narrowed its losses and reported results that were better than Wall Street expected. Square reported a net loss of $15.2 million for the fourth quarter, or 4 cents per share, compared with a loss of $80.5 million, or 34 cents during the same quarter a year ago. Analysts tracked by FactSet expected Square to report a per-share loss of 9 cents. Revenue hit $451.9 million in the quarter, up from $374.4 million in the year-earlier period and above the FactSet consensus of $449.8 million. Square's gross payment volume increased 34% in the fourth quarter to $13.7 billion. The company expects 2017 total revenue to be in the range of $2.09 billion to $2.15 billion. FactSet expects revenue for the year to hit $2.1 billion. Square shares have gained nearly 45% in the trailing 12-month period, while the S&P 500 Index is up more than 21% in the same time frame