PayPal Holdings Inc. shares surged Thursday after the firm said it grew millions of new accounts amid the height of the COVID-19 outbreak in April, part of a trend showing consumers moving toward digital payments.

"In the past month there has been unprecedented demand for our products and services," Dan Schulman, CEO , told analysts on the company's quarterly conference call.  

PayPal reported 7.4 million net new active accounts and 17% revenue growth during April, with a record 250,000 net new actives per day, which the company views as a positive sign for second-quarter financial results. The company had 1.2 billion payment transactions during the month, a 20% increase from a year ago. 

On May 1, the company reported its largest single day of transactions ever, bigger than Black Friday or Cyber Monday last year. 

Shares of the company were up more than 13% at $145.87 in mid-morning trading. 

The company reported 20.2 million net new active accounts during the first quarter, a 17% increase, for a total of 325 million active accounts. This included  the one-time addition of 10.2 million in January stemming from the company's acquisition of Honey. 

Payment transactions rose 15% to 3.3 billion in the quarter. Total payment volume rose 18% to $191 billion in the quarter.

Volume at Venmo, the company's social media payments app, rose 48% to $31 billion.

Non-GAAP earnings per share was flat at 66 cents a share, while non-GAAP earnings fell 83% to 7 cents from 56 cents in the year ago quarter. Earnings included a 17 cents-a-share negative impact related to increased credit loss reserves. 

The company had $12.6 billion in cash, cash equivalents and investments. 

The company is withdrawing its full year earnings and revenue guidance for 2020.