PayPal stock climbs after CEO says Q4 EPS could come 'slightly ahead' of guidance

PayPal ( NASDAQ: PYPL ) stock climbed as much as 4.3% in Wednesday afternoon trading after Dan Schulman, the payment giant's CEO and president, indicated that it could deliver Q4 earnings that come "slightly ahead' of the guidance it issued in November. The company expects Q4 adjusted EPS of $1.18-$1.20, compared with the $1.19 average analyst estimate and $1.08 in Q3. The fourth quarter "is an important inflection point for us," according to a transcript version of Schulman's remarks during the UBS Global TMT event. "Our operating margins will grow for sure, our OpEx growth will be negative growth for the quarter." His expectations for negative growth in operating expenses come as "I think it's prudent to plan [f]or a more difficult economic environment," he added. "There's probably more than a 50% chance that we go into, at least the shallow recession, through the first part of the year." Schulman also signaled that "we're right on track" with PayPal's ( PYPL ) latest guidance to grow revenues by ~9% in Q4. The company sees net revenue of ~$7.38B versus the $7.39B consensus and $6.85B in Q3. Separately, PayPal said it will expand its cryptocurrency services, which were first launched in the U.S. in 2020, to eligible customers in Luxembourg in the coming days, in a move that's perhaps contributing to the stock's gains during Wednesday's session. In an effort to make cryptos more accessible, customers will be able to buy, sell and hold bitcoin ( BTC-USD ), ethereum ( ETH-USD ), litecoin ( LTC-USD ) and bitcoin cash ( BTC-USD ) in their PayPal accounts, the company said in a release. Previously, (Nov. 29) PayPal and Venmo were said to have maintained strong market share in Black Friday shopping .