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PayPal payments help boost eBay's profit 22 percent

EBay Inc said on 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 firm’s shares fell 6.6 percent in after-hours trading. The stock had gained 4.5 percent in regular trading to close at US$28.10.

California-based eBay earned US$460 million, or US$0.35 per share, compared with US$376 million, or US$0.27 per share, in the year-ago quarter. Excluding certain items, eBay earned US$0.43 per share. That beat Wall Street’s forecast for US$0.41 per share.

EBay’s revenue rose 20 percent to US$2.20 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had been looking for US$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 US$1.46 billion.

Sharper growth came from PayPal, whose revenue rose 32 percent to US$602 million. Revenue from its online telecommunications service, Skype, rose 51 percent to US$130 million.

Listings on eBay’s site climbed 19 percent to US$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 US$84.5 million.

Looking ahead, eBay expects third-quarter earnings of US$0.30 to US$0.32 per share, or US$0.39 to US$41 per share on an adjusted basis, and US$2.10 billion to US$2.15 billion in revenue.

Analysts were expecting better: Adjusted earnings of US$0.41 per share on US$2.18 billion in revenue.

For the full year, eBay now anticipates earnings of US$1.72 to US$1.77 per share on an adjusted basis, and US$8.80 billion to US$9.05 billion in revenue. The company had predicted adjusted earnings of US$1.70 to US$1.75 on US$8.70 billion to US$9 billion in revenue in April. Analysts had been looking for adjusted earnings of US$1.74 per share on US$9.01 billion in revenue.
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