Here’s Why Shares of Etsy Are Soaring

February 23, 2016, 11:04 PM UTC
Etsy IPO Opens On Nasdaq
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 16: General atmosphere as Etsy rings the Nasdaq Opening Bell in Celebration of IPO at Nasdaq on April 16, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Paul Zimmerman/Getty Images for NASDAQ)
Photograph by Paul Zimmerman — Getty Images

Etsy shares surged 15% in after-hours trading Tuesday, beating fourth-quarter analyst forecasts and posting an earnings loss—though the stock also fell over 7% prior to the closing bell.

The peer-to-peer e-commerce company (ETSY), which has been battered since it’s IPO last year, reported revenue of $87.9 million in the fourth quarter, beating the consensus of $86.6 million. That equaled a growth of 35% year-over-year.

Etsy also reported a loss of 4 cents per share—higher than the anticipated penny per share.

“We are proud of our progress in 2015,” Etsy’s CEO Chad Dickerson said in a statement. “We hit many important milestones that are the building blocks for long-term, sustainable growth.”

Gross Merchandise Sales (GMS), which tracks the total value of everything sold on an e-commerce site, clocked in at $741.5 million, up 21.3% year-over-year.

The increase in revenue was in part driven by the integration of PayPal into Etsy’s online Checkout system, as well as growth in transaction fee revenues, the company reported.

Etsy also noted that the number of mobile visits the site received grew faster than those from a desktop, representing an opportunity to continue growing their mobile customer base. In the fourth quarter, the company developed the Etsy mobile app to integrate social sign-up, digital wallets, and Apple Pay in a bid to attract and keep mobile customers.

The company forecasts revenues to increase between 20% to 25% in the next three years and GMS to grow between 12% to 17%.

The rebound however is still far below Etsy’s IPO of $31 per share in April.

This post has been updated to correctly reflect the year-over-year increase in GMS.

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