Adyen shares surge 11% after Dutch payments giant smashes earnings expectations

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Dutch payments processor Adyen reported a 51% jump in core earnings in the first half of 2021, topping expectations and sending its stock price sharply higher.

The company said Wednesday that net revenue in the period came in at 556.5 million euros ($635.9 million), up 47% year-on-year. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 51%, to 357.3 million euros.

That was higher than the 552 million euros of net revenue and 346 million euros of EBITDA expected by analysts, according to Reuters.

Adyen's profit margin climbed to 64% in the second half, up from 61% in the first half. Its total processed transaction volume climbed 72% to 300 billion euros.

The firm said its guidance remained unchanged from the last time it published results.

Shares of Adyen rose 11% Wednesday morning — though they're still down more than 20% year-to-date amid a slump in tech stocks due to fears over higher interest rates. The Amsterdam-based firm has a market value of almost $60 billion.

Adyen's earnings report was in stark contrast to that of its U.S. peer PayPal, which reported a mixed set of results in the fourth quarter and weak guidance. PayPal at the time blamed «exogenous factors» like inflation weighing on consumer spending.

PayPal CEO Dan Schulman also said the transition of eBay — its former owner — away to a new payments system was also «hiding some of the underlying strength of the business.» EBay has partnered with Adyen for the new system.

Adyen said its results were «bolstered by the unrelenting rise of online commerce globally.» The digital payments space has benefited from changing consumer habits in the coronavirus era, with e-commerce adoption accelerating significantly.

The firm