Green Dot Q4 Earnings: All Arrows Green

Green Dot, the issuer of prepaid debit cards, posted fourth quarter earnings and revenue that beat Wall Street expectations, driven by demand across its businesses and efficiency projects.

In a press release announcing these results, Green Dot Founder and Chief Executive Steve Streit said the fourth quarter was a sequentially strong one thanks in part to its team of executives that have been working on a plan all year to deliver an EPS of $1.75 for 2017. “As we head further into 2017, we believe that Green Dot is an increasingly important and powerful financial services franchise that stands at the forefront among the nation’s leading and most successful FinTech banking platforms,” Streit said.

During the fourth quarter, the number of cash transfers amounted to 9.37 million, up from 9.36 million in the third quarter, but lower than the 9.71 million in last year’s fourth quarter. The company said it had 4.13 million active cards at the end of the fourth quarter, which is up from 4.09 million in the third quarter, but lower than the 4.5 million in last year’s fourth quarter. Gross dollar volume came in at $5.68 billion in the fourth quarter, slightly higher than $5.44 billion in last year’s fourth quarter. Meanwhile, purchase volume was $4.01 billion compared to $3.86 billion in last year’s fourth quarter.

Looking to 2017, Green Dot expects full year non-GAAP total consolidated operating revenues to be between $815 million and $830 million, and for first quarter total consolidated operating revenues to be approximately $230 million, excluding any revenue associated with the acquisition of UniRush.

In January, Green Dot inked a deal to buy UniRush and its operating businesses: RushCard, an online direct-to-consumer general purpose reloadable prepaid card provider, and rapid! PayCard, a corporate payroll card provider. In a press release, Green Dot said the buy, which is part of its plan to enhance shareholder value, expands the company’s scale with the addition of the RushCard– and rapid! PayCard-installed customer bases. The company said this move also improves its position as a stronger player in the growing corporate payroll card and wage disbursement market. The acquisition is expected to close prior to the end of the first quarter, subject to customary closing conditions.