Klarna posts $1 billion Q1 revenue, EPS -$0.01

Klarna reported first-quarter 2026 revenue of $1.0 billion on Thursday and said diluted earnings per share were negative $0.01, ahead of analyst expectations compiled by Investing.com. The Stockholm-based payments company said net income was $1 million for the quarter ended March 31, compared with a net loss of $99 million a year earlier. Revenue rose 44% year over year, while gross merchandise volume climbed 33% to $33.7 billion. The results add detail to Klarna’s latest push to show growth beyond its core buy-now-pay-later business. The company said adjusted operating profit was $68 million, up from $3 million a year earlier, and operating income was $17 million versus a $90 million operating loss in the first quarter of 2025. Klarna also said provisions for credit losses were 0.55% of gross merchandise volume, compared with 0.54% a year earlier. (tmcnet.com) ### How big was the revenue beat? Investing.com showed analysts had expected first-quarter revenue of about $944.4 million and earnings per share of negative $0.20. Klarna’s reported revenue of $1.0 billion and EPS of negative $0.01 topped those estimates, according to the data service. Bloomberg reported analysts had expected a net loss of $67.2 million on average. (tmcnet.com) The $1.0 billion figure matched the top end of the range Klarna had given for the quarter in February, when it told investors first-quarter revenue would likely come in between $900 million and $980 million, according to Sherwood News. Thursday’s release marked Klarna’s first quarter of positive net income after the year-earlier loss disclosed in its results statement. (investing.com) ### What drove the customer growth? Klarna said active consumers reached 119 million in the quarter, up 21% from a year earlier. Merchant partners topped 1 million, up 49% year over year, the company said. Klarna also said the cohort of users who first used the service in 2022 generated $12 in annual revenue per consumer in their first year and $52 now. (sherwood.news) The company said it now offers Pay Now, Pay Later and Fair Financing under a single contract across 26 markets. In recent weeks, Klarna has announced partnerships including a deal to bring its payment options to Google Search and the Gemini app within Google Pay, according to its investor relations news page. (morningstar.com) ### What do the profit figures show about costs and credit? Adjusted operating profit reached $68 million in the quarter, while transaction margin dollars rose 44% to $389 million, Klarna said. Revenue per employee was nearly $1.4 million, four times the 2022 level, according to the company’s earnings materials. Credit performance was little changed from a year earlier. (marketchameleon.com) Klarna said provisions for credit losses were 0.55% of gross merchandise volume in the first quarter of 2026, compared with 0.54% in the same period of 2025. ### What is Klarna telling investors about the next quarter? Klarna said it was reiterating its full-year 2026 guidance and issued second-quarter guidance on Thursday. (tmcnet.com) The company said it expects second-quarter gross merchandise volume of $35.5 billion to $36.5 billion, revenue of $960 million to $1.0 billion, transaction margin dollars of $375 million to $395 million and adjusted operating income of $30 million to $50 million. (finance.yahoo.com) May 14 is also the date of Klarna’s first-quarter earnings webcast, scheduled for 8:30 a.m. ET, according to the company’s investor events page and its April 29 notice announcing the release date. Klarna is also scheduled to appear at the JPMorgan Global Technology, Media & Communications Conference in Boston on May 20 and at the Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference in New York on May 28. (investors.klarna.com) (kommunikasjon.ntb.no)