⁍ PayPal Holdings Inc said on Wednesday a surge in e-commerce transactions and new accounts drove quarterly profits 86% higher.

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⁍ The news lifted the stock as much as 6% in after-hours trading.

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⁍ Three months ago, the company had withdrawn full-year guidance because of uncertainty about the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.

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– Payments processor PayPal Holdings Inc. said Wednesday that a surge in e-commerce transactions and new accounts that drove quarterly profits 86% higher was continuing and would support additional investments in mobile-payment tools. The news lifted the stock as much as 6% in after-hours trading, per Reuters. The company said it expected the trends to continue and that it now expected earnings per share for the full year to increase about 25% on 22% revenue growth. Three months ago, the company had withdrawn full-year guidance because of uncertainty about the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. What in late April felt like a potentially short-lived surge of panic buying supported by government stimulus checks has become a ‘durable and profound behavioral shift,’ Chief Financial Officer John Rainey said. The company processed $222 billion in payments over the period, up 30% from a year earlier, adjusted for foreign exchange. The rate of payment growth compares with a year-earlier increase of 26% that had slowed to 19% in the first quarter when the pandemic broke and retail spending collapsed broadly. The company added 21.3 million accounts during the quarter, up 137% from a year earlier. The company said it would invest $300 million more this year, mostly on its mobile phone app that displays QR codes so that people can go into stores and pay without touching anything. Net income increased to $1.53 billion, or $1.29 per share, in the quarter ended June 30, from $823 million, or 69 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue increased 25% to $5.26 billion, topping the average analyst estimate of $5.0 billion.