STOCKHOLM, May 14, 2026, 15:03 CEST
Klarna Group plc finally posted a quarterly profit—the company’s first since debuting on the New York exchange—with revenue topping $1 billion. But investors didn’t get the all-clear, as management’s softer second-quarter guidance kept enthusiasm in check and signaled the post-IPO hangover isn’t over yet. Shoppers kept spending: gross merchandise volume jumped 33%, hitting $33.7 billion. The Swedish buy now, pay later outfit, which lets users split payments, continues to scale.
Timing is crucial here. Investors want Klarna to show it can expand in the U.S. market without letting credit expenses or overhead spiral past its growth. According to Reuters, revenue topped analyst expectations at $945 million. But Klarna’s forecast for second-quarter revenue—set between $960 million and $1 billion—came in below the $1.07 billion analysts predicted in the LSEG survey.
Klarna posted a 44% jump in first-quarter revenue, hitting $1.0 billion. Adjusted operating profit — the company’s preferred measure that excludes some expenses — soared to $68 million, up sharply from just $3 million a year ago. Operating income flipped positive, reaching $17 million after a $90 million loss last year. Net income came in at $1 million compared with a $99 million loss in the same period last year.
Klarna shares were actively trading ahead of the New York open, with MarketBeat quoting $15.37 in premarket activity as of 8:43 a.m. Eastern—up 12.6% from yesterday’s close. Regular NYSE hours hadn’t started when Stockholm markets timestamped that move.
Chief Executive Sebastian Siemiatkowski cast the quarter as a signal Klarna is pushing further than just checkout lending. “Klarna addresses the entire consumer wallet,” he said in the company statement, highlighting products like Pay Now, Pay Later, and installment loans at the point of sale for bigger-ticket transactions. Business Wire
Siemiatkowski didn’t mince words when speaking with Reuters after a bruising fourth quarter. “It obviously became clear to us that it was important to all the shareholders that they were supportive about the growth, but they also wanted to see the bottom line growing well,” he said. Reuters
Active consumers jumped 21% to 119 million, the company reported, with its merchant base up 49% and topping 1 million. Klarna Card counted 5 million active users in 16 countries. Meanwhile, Fair Financing—Klarna’s longer-term installment loan—delivered 138% year-over-year GMV growth.
Klarna is pushing to catch shoppers as search and AI start picking up more of the heavy lifting in purchases. The company announced on May 12 that U.S. consumers will soon see its payment choices show up in Google’s Gemini app and Google Search, through Google Pay. David Sykes, Klarna’s chief commercial officer, called flexible payments “essential infrastructure” as commerce shifts toward conversational and AI-led experiences. Business Wire
The U.S. is still the key front. Klarna’s latest move pits it directly against Affirm in the checkout lending space—particularly after Klarna and OnePay teamed up last year to provide installment loans for Walmart customers in the United States. That deal, according to Reuters, effectively knocked Affirm out of a major partnership.
Analysts were already pumping the brakes ahead of the report. On May 11, TD Cowen’s Moshe Orenbuch initiated Klarna at Hold with a $16 price target, as first noted by Benzinga. BMO Capital’s Andrew Bauch landed on the same $16 target with his Market Perform call. Back in February, JPMorgan, UBS, and Wells Fargo all took their targets down, but interestingly, none of them budged from their bullish ratings.
Still, risks loom large. Klarna reported provisions for credit losses at 0.55% of GMV, barely budging from last year’s 0.54%. The bigger headache: mix shift. If Fair Financing—which runs longer-term—keeps outpacing Klarna’s core, expect investors to zero in on underwriting and funding costs. There’s also the second-quarter adjusted operating profit target: $30 million to $50 million, trailing the previous quarter.
Klarna stuck to its full-year 2026 guidance, which gives some reassurance. But the real challenge is coming: over the next several months, investors will be watching to see if Thursday’s profit marks a real turning point—or if it’s just a one-off in a company that’s still struggling to show fast growth, credit discipline, and public-market stamina can actually coexist.
