PayPal Earnings Beat, Stock Buyback Send Stock To Record Levels

PayPal Holdings Inc. stock topped record highs in after-hours trading Wednesday after the online-payments company beat earnings expectations and announced a $5 billion stock-repurchase plan. The company reported first-quarter net income of $384 million, or 32 cents a share, on revenue of $2.98 billion. After adjustments for stock-based compensation and other factors, PayPal claimed adjusted profit of 44 cents a share. Analysts on average expected PayPal to report adjusted earnings of 41 cents a share on revenue of $2.94 billion, according to FactSet. Total payments volume on PayPal's platform increased 23% year-over-year and nearly topped $100 billion for the first time, at $99.3 billion, helping revenue increase 17% from the same quarter a year ago. PayPal also said it would buy back $5 billion in stock as soon as its $2 billion stock-repurchase program announced in January 2016 is complete; the company said about $488 million remains in that authorization. PayPal shares closed at $44.41, down 0.7% from a closing record of $44.71 reached Tuesday, then jumped more than 5% in late trading to potential record highs.