Shares of the fintech firm slid 7.9% to US$58.24 in New York. The stock had gained 3% this year through the close of regular trading.

Fourth-quarter payments volume climbed 15% to US$409.8 billion, beating analysts’ estimates of US$403.6 billion, while adjusted earnings totalled US$1.48 a share, topping the US$1.36 average forecast.

For all of 2024, PayPal expects adjusted earnings of US$5.10 a share, unchanged from last year, the San Jose, California-based company said in a statement.

PayPal announced last month that it will cut about 9% of its workforce, part of CEO Alex Chriss’s efforts to boost profits. In November, he blamed PayPal’s slow progress on its cost base and complex structure.

The company still has ample expenses that can be reevaluated beyond its headcount as it works to become more efficient, Chriss said in an interview. “We’re continuing to look across the entire organisation.”

The firm plans to buy back at least US$5 billion of its stock this year, CFO Jamie Miller said on a conference call with analysts.

Fourth-quarter net revenue totalled US$8.03 billion, up 8.7% from a year earlier. Transaction margin dollars — or revenue minus transaction costs and transaction and credit losses divided by net revenue — was US$3.67 billion.

That metric, a key indicator of expense control, was little changed from a year earlier.

PayPal plans to stop providing annual revenue guidance in favour of doing so quarterly, Miller said during the conference call.

“We are just doing too many things,” she said. “We have to make decisions to stop doing things, and just focus.”