EBay Inc, the world's No. 1 Internet auctioneer, said second-quarter earnings more than doubled to US$109.7 million. Profit and forecasts weren't as high as some investors expected, dragging the company's shares down as much as 6.2 percent.
Net income surged to US$0.33 a share, from US$54.3 million, or US$0.19 a share, a year earlier. Revenue jumped 91 percent to US$509.3 million from US$266.3 million, the San Jose, California-based company said. EBay will split its stock 2-for-1 on Aug. 28.
EBay exceeded analysts forecasts for profit by US$0.02 a share, or lower than what some investors may have expected after the company exceeded analysts' first-quarter estimates by US$0.05 a share and had a tripling of profit in the fourth quarter.
EBay's shares have more than doubled since September.
"It was a good quarter, but the stock's had a run anticipating a better-than-good quarter," said Paul Cook, director of technology investing at Munder Capital Management, which manages more than US$30 billion of assets, including EBay shares.
Third-quarter profit excluding certain costs will be US$0.34 a share on revenue of US$515 million, EBay said. That's less than Thomson Financial's survey, which predicted a US$0.35 profit and US$518.2 million in revenue.
Net income this quarter will be US$0.29 a share, or US$0.01 less than it previously projected, because of EBay's recent acquisition of EachNet Inc to accelerate growth in China.
EBay's market value of US$36.7 billion is almost three times that of as much as Sears, Roebuck & Co, the largest US department store chain.
Excluding stock-based pay costs, amortization and certain other expenses, EBay said second-quarter profit would have been US$0.37 a share. On that basis, which doesn't conform to generally accepted accounting principles, the company was expected to earn 35 cents, according to Thomson Financial.
"People may be a bit surprised the upside this quarter was not as strong and that guidance is not raise more," said Derek Brown, a Pacific Growth Equities analyst who has an "equal-weight" rating on the shares and does not personally own the stock.
"Which, when all is said and done, are all minor negatives on a very strong second quarter," he said.
The company, which gets most of its revenue from fees and commissions charged sellers, said the value of goods sold through its sites rose 66 percent to US$5.6 billion.
The number of EBay users climbed to 34.1 million in the past year as chief executive officer Meg Whitman sought to attract new users and encourage repeat business through television commercials with a "Do It EBay" tag line.
Revenue from transactions in the US rose 45 percent to US$242.4 million as people used EBay to auction items ranging from PEZ candy dispensers to 707 aircraft converted into homes. The increase was down from the 49 increase in the first quarter.
International transaction revenue soared to US$155.1 million, a 146 percent rise from a year earlier. That increase was lower than the 166 percent gain in the first three months of the year.
"This business just continues its `up and to the right' trajectory," said chief financial officer Rajiv Dutta in an interview. He said EBay has raised its revenue forecast for this year by US$245 million since first issuing projections last year.
PayPal transaction revenue jumped 90 percent to US$99.4 million from US$52.5 million last year. EBay bought the service that allows people to transmit payments via e-mail for US$1.5 billion in October.
EBay boosted its full-year earnings forecast to as much as US$1.31 a share and said sales may rise to as much as US$2.08 billion, US$25 million more than earlier estimates.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary