PayPal shares tick up after surpassing expectations for the quarter

PayPal reported its first-quarter results after the bell on Wednesday, sending shares up about 3% in after-hours trading, due to better-than-expected numbers.

Adjusted earnings per share were 57 cents, above analyst estimates of 54 cents. Revenue for the quarter was $3.69 billion, up 24% from last year. Analysts surveyed by Yahoo Finance had been expecting $3.59 billion.

This comes from $132 billion in total payment volume, with $49 billion coming from mobile transactions. The company touted four consecutive quarters of accelerating revenue growth.

PayPal also raised guidance, expecting revenue for the year to between $3.78 and $3.83 billion.

PayPal broke out results for Venmo, its popular peer-to-peer payments app. It processed $40 billion in payments over the last year and $12 billion in the first quarter.

PayPal added 8.1 million active accounts. Its average customer makes 34.7 transactions per year, an 8% increase from prior years.

PayPal repurchased 23.6 million shares of common stock last quarter, returning $1.83 billion to shareholders.

PayPal shares have doubled in the past year, but at $74, shares are beneath the high of $85 we saw last quarter. The company dipped following its last earnings report on news that eBay is looking to partner with competitor Adyen.

PayPal and eBay were previously the same company, but the two separated in 2015. PayPal is the larger of the two businesses, with a market cap of nearly $88 billion. eBay is worth under $42 billion.