EBay's Revenue Grows Again -- Update
January 25 2017 - 5:51PM
Dow Jones News
By Laura Stevens
EBay Inc. on Wednesday said revenue grew 3.1%, a fourth straight
quarter of sales gains as a strong holiday season and a revamp of
the company's website appear to be paying off.
The San Jose, Calif.-based online marketplace on Wednesday
reported $2.4 billion in revenue, compared with last year's $2.32
billion. Boosted by a big tax benefit, net income was $5.94
billion, or $5.30 a share, compared with $477 million, or 39 cents,
a year ago.
On an adjusted basis, eBay reported a per-share profit of 54
cents, in line with expectations of analysts surveyed by Thomson
Reuters. Analysts had also expected $2.4 billion in revenue.
EBay's shares rose 7.5% in trading after the market's close,
after finishing the day up 0.8%.
EBay was banking in part on its first U.S. and European TV
holiday ad campaign since 2014, part of a broader new initiative to
help it shed its legacy image as an online garage sale. The
marketplace has been trying to attract younger shoppers,
highlighting that the majority of the goods on its site are
new.
But the holidays have been mixed for many retailers so far.
While online spending surged, translating into a generally strong
holiday season, traditional retailers including Macy's Inc. and
Kohl's Corp. reported disappointing sales. Rival Amazon.com Inc.
was a clear winner, commanding an estimated 38% of online sales,
according to data from Slice Intelligence, which collects data from
email receipts of 4.2 million shoppers. E.commerce also grew at a
rate faster than total retail spending -- about 20%.
EBay said late last year it hoped to capitalize on last-minute
shoppers in part through highlighting sellers on its site offering
expedited shipping. Gross merchandise volume -- or the value of
items sold on eBay's marketplace excluding vehicles and real estate
-- increased to $21.1 billion, up from $20.68 billion a year
ago.
That is also a measure of eBay's new initiative to make its site
more easily searchable for shoppers who don't have time to scroll
through thousands of search results, especially on their phones. As
part of that effort, it is cataloging items on its site, something
that should help improve its search results on Alphabet Inc.'s
Google. Previously, individual listings changed too frequently to
surface high on a search engine, but now items can be grouped and
displayed by brands, type and deals.
Ticket seller and marketplace StubHub, a bright spot for the
e-commerce company over the last few quarters, reported a 18%
increase in revenue to $274 million, outpacing eBay's growth as a
whole. The business last year acquired both Spanish rival Ticketbis
and software firm Ticket Utils.
EBay said it had 167 million active buyers on the site, up from
the third quarter, when it reported it had 165 million.
EBay said it sees full-year adjusted earnings of $1.98 to $2.03
and revenue of $9.3 billion to $9.5 billion, compared with
analysts' views of $2.06 a share $9.36 billion.
The company also forecast first-quarter adjusted earnings of 46
cents to 48 cents on revenue of $2.17 billion to $2.21 billion,
compared with analysts' expectations of 50 cents and $2.21
billion.
Write to Laura Stevens at laura.stevens@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 25, 2017 17:36 ET (22:36 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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