By Matt Grossman
StoneCo Ltd. shares traded higher Wednesday morning a day after the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter revenue.
The company's stock rose more than 19% to $31.98 in the first half hour of trading, after closing Tuesday at $26.70.
StoneCo, a digital-payments platform with a focus on Brazil, said Tuesday that its first-quarter revenue was 716.8 million Brazilian reais ($130.3 million), compared with analysts' expectations of 685 million reais, according to FactSet.
Payment volume rose in the first quarter despite the effects of Covid-19, which began to affect Brazil late in the period, StoneCo said.
The company has also reduced its workforce during the pandemic, a move it said it has implemented alongside other cost-management and operational-efficiency initiatives.
Write to Matt Grossman at matt.grossman@wsj.com