eBay Results Meet the Street But Guidance Disappoints

eBay’s efforts to reinvent itself amid a shifting eCommerce landscape that continues to be trod upon, and heavily, by Amazon, showed up less than fruitful in its latest earnings results, at least as judged by investors.

As noted in numbers put out on Wednesday (April 19), the company said sales growth was 3.7 percent, a tally in line with previous-quarter growth. The top line came in at $2.2 billion (in line), while the bottom line was a penny better than the Street at $0.49. But the disappointment that led to the stock dropping 3 percent in early-morning trade came as projections for the current quarter came in at $2.28 billion to $2.32 billion, shy of the Street at $2.32 billion, and net income will be $0.43 to $0.45 while analysts were looking for $0.47.

Those are the headline stats, and looking a bit deeper, the firm was able to realize a 4 percent gain in active buyers, year over year, up 2 million, to 169 million. In terms of percentage gains, in gross merchandise volume, gains were 5 percent to $20.9 billion. StubHub, the ticket marketplace, seemed a relative bright spot with 6 percent gains in GMV, to $916 million. But looking at either revenues or GMV, growth rates are quite a bit lower than the double-digit percentage gains seen in the eCommerce industry at large and even as Amazon continues to take market share amid the total eCommerce pie.

Management said that 50 percent of volume is now being closed via mobile devices, while consumer-to-consumer transactions were also rebounding, at 3 percent growth over two consecutive quarters, as noted during a call with analysts.