Visa, PayPal, and Marathon Digital each reported their Q2 earnings Tuesday, with all three companies beating analyst expectations on revenue and income. Spotify, however, missed both targets and issued weaker guidance, triggering a sharp drop in share price. Visa reported an adjusted net income of $5.8 billion, or $2.98 per share, for its fiscal third quarter ending June 30, beating the $2.85 average estimate from analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Revenue rose 14% year-over-year to $10.2 billion, a new company record. The San Francisco-based payments giant also reported a 12% jump in cross-border volumes and a 10% rise in processed transactions. CEO Ryan McInerney said Tuesday, “Consumer spending remains resilient, with continued strength in discretionary and non-discretionary growth in the US.” McInerney also said Visa saw “healthy business driver trends” carry into the current quarter. Despite the strong numbers, Visa stock dipped 0.9% to $348 in after-hours trading. The stock had gained 11% year-to-date through Tuesday, ahead of the S&P 500 Financials Index, which rose 9.1% over the same stretch. The company left its earnings guidance unchanged for the full fiscal year, still expecting low double-digit revenue growth and earnings per share to rise in the low teens percentage range. PayPal revenue rises, but cash flow drops sharply PayPal posted Q2 adjusted earnings per share of $1.40, ahead of the $1.30 analysts had forecast, based on LSEG data. Revenue hit $8.29 billion, beating the $8.08 billion estimate. Sales were up 5% year-over-year from $7.89 billion. But the headline wasn’t enough to hold up the stock—shares dropped over 8% after the company flagged concerns in its profitability metrics. The company’s transaction margin dollars rose 7% to $3.84 billion, marking the sixth straight quarter of growth. But that growth had slowed from the previous quarter, where it was 8% excluding one-time boosts. Branded checkout volumes also decelerated to 5%, down from 6% in Q1 when adjusted for Leap Day. CEO Alex Chriss has been cutting out lower-margin revenue streams, but rising expenses and weaker cash flow have overshadowed topline gains. Operating expenses rose to $6.78 billion, up from $6.26 billion in Q1. Adjusted free cash flow crashed to $656 million, which was less than half the prior quarter’s $1.4 billion and roughly one-third of analyst expectations. Despite the slowdown, PayPal reported total payment volume of $443.6 billion, beating the $433.6 billion expected. Active accounts increased by 2% to 438 million, just above forecasts. The company’s shares are down 8.4% for the year as of Tuesday’s close, while the Nasdaq is up around 10% in 2025. Looking ahead, PayPal guided Q3 earnings to a range of $1.18 to $1.22 per share, with analysts expecting $1.20. Transaction margin dollars are expected to grow 4% to between $3.76 billion and $3.82 billion. Marathon smashes estimates with 505% net income growth Marathon Digital Holdings delivered one of the most aggressive Q2 earnings results this season. The crypto miner reported a 64% jump in revenue to $238 million and a massive 505% rise in net income to $808.2 million compared to the previous year. The company’s Bitcoin holdings rose by 170%, with 18,488 BTC on the books, up from 6,841 BTC a year earlier. That’s an increase of 49,951 BTC mined in a single quarter. The company attributed the spike to better mining efficiency and expanded infrastructure. Marathon said in a shareholder letter that it would hold a webcast at 5:00 p.m. ET to discuss the results. Before the announcement, options traders leaned bullish with five calls for every two puts, and implied volatility pointed to an expected move of about 6.8%, or $1.13 per share, a number consistent with MARA’s average 9.1% swing post-earnings over the past eight quarters. While analyst forecasts had pinned Marathon’s Q2 revenue at $137.6 million with $0.11 EPS, the company blew past both figures. Still, not everything was smooth under the hood. Marathon posted a 12-month revenue decline of 6.4%, and its operating margin sat at -79.37%, with net margin at -46.68%. There were also liquidity concerns. The company’s current ratio is 0.79, which means it may not have enough short-term assets to cover short-term liabilities. However, with a $5.86 billion market cap and investments in immersion cooling and custom firmware, Marathon has leaned heavily into tech upgrades to stay competitive. Shares of MARA were up 4.76% in after-hours, trading at $16.61 at last check. Spotify reports loss, stock sinks more than 11% Spotify posted one of its worst days in a year after the company missed Q2 expectations and issued weak guidance for Q3. Shares fell more than 11% on Tuesday, marking their sharpest single-day drop since July 2023. The streaming platform reported a net loss of 86 million euros, or 42 euro cents per share, versus 1.90 euros per share expected by analysts. Revenue came in at 4.19 billion euros, falling short of the 4.26 billion euro forecast. Still, revenue rose 10% year-over-year, up from 3.81 billion euros. Last year, the company had posted net income of 225 million euros, or 1.10 euros per share, showing a clear reversal. Spotify said the disappointing results were due to higher personnel, marketing, and professional services costs, along with 115 million euros in social charges. The Q3 forecast was also weak. Spotify expects revenue of 4.2 billion euros, missing the 4.47 billion euro estimate. The company blamed foreign exchange headwinds, estimating a 490-basis-point drag on guidance. Cryptopolitan Academy: Coming Soon - A New Way to Earn Passive Income with DeFi in 2025. Learn More
