EBay profit jumps 22%
EBay Inc. said Wednesday that its second-quarter profit jumped 22%, as the online auction company enjoyed strong growth in its e-commerce sites and PayPal payments service.
But eBay’s outlook for the current quarter was softer than analysts had expected, and the Internet company’s shares fell 6% in after-hours trading. The stock had gained 4.5% in regular trading to close at $28.10.
San Jose, Calif.-based eBay (EBAY, Fortune 500) earned $460 million, or 35 cents per share, compared with $376 million, or 27 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. Excluding certain items, eBay earned 43 cents per share.
That beat Wall Street’s forecast for 41 cents per share.
EBay’s revenue rose 20% to $2.20 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had been looking for $2.17 billion in revenue.
Revenue from eBay’s marketplaces segment, which includes eBay, Shopping.com, StubHub and other e-commerce Web sites, rose 13% to $1.46 billion.
Sharper growth came from PayPal, whose revenue rose 32% to $602 million. Revenue from its online telecommunications service, Skype, rose 51% to $130 million.
Listings on eBay’s site climbed 19% to 667 million during the quarter, but the number of active users - an important measure of how well the company is attracting new buyers and sellers - rose only 1.4% to 84.5 million.
"This was a strong quarter and we are very pleased with the performance of the portfolio, particularly with the growth generated by PayPal," eBay Chief Executive John Donahoe said in a statement.
Donahoe also said the company is "confident" in its moves to improve customer experiences as it manages "in an uncertain economic climate."
Looking ahead, eBay expects third-quarter earnings of 30 cents to 32 cents per share, or 39 cents to 41 cents per share on an adjusted basis, and $2.10 billion to $2.15 billion in revenue.
Analysts were expecting better: adjusted earnings of 41 cents per share on $2.18 billion in revenue.
For the full year, eBay anticipates earnings of $1.72 to $1.77 per share on an adjusted basis, with $8.80 billion to $9.05 billion in revenue faxless payday loans. Analysts had been looking for adjusted earnings of $1.74 per share on $9.01 billion in revenue.
Filed under: online by Fred