Jul 16, 2008 3:08 pm US/Pacific
EBay Profit Jumps 22 Percent In 2nd Quarter
SAN JOSE (AP) ―
EBay Inc. said Wednesday that its second-quarter profit jumped 22 percent, as the online auction company enjoyed strong growth in its e-commerce sites and its PayPal payments service.
But eBay's outlook for the current quarter was softer than analysts had been forecasting, and the auction company's shares fell 6 percent in after-hours trading. The stock had gained 4.5 percent in regular trading to close at $28.10.
San Jose-based eBay 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 percent 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 percent to $1.46 billion.
Sharper growth came from PayPal, whose revenue rose 32 percent to $602 million. Revenue from its online telecommunications service, Skype, rose 51 percent to $130 million.
Listings on eBay's site climbed 19 percent to 667 million during the quarter, but the company's number of active users—an important measure of how well the company is attracting new buyers and sellers—rose only 1.4 percent 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, and $8.80 billion to $9.05 billion in revenue. Analysts had been looking for adjusted earnings of $1.74 per share on $9.01 billion in revenue.
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