EBAY eBay Inc

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By Kimberly Chin

EBay Inc. reported higher sales in the latest quarter as the online marketplace continues to benefit from homebound shoppers.

The e-commerce giant's first-quarter profit was $641 million. A year earlier, the company's earnings were $3.41 billion and included a gain from the sale of its StubHub ticket-sales unit and classifieds business. Per-share earnings were 92 cents, compared with $4.51 a year earlier.

Excluding certain items, profit was $1.09 a share. Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting adjusted earnings of $1.07 a share.

EBay's income from continuing operations, which excludes the sale of StubHub and its classifieds business, was $569 million, compared with $431 million last year.

Net revenue was $3.02 billion, a 42% increase from a year earlier. Analysts on average were targeting $2.97 billion.

EBay said annual active buyers rose 7% to about 187 million globally in the quarter while active sellers increased by 8% to around 20 million globally. Gross merchandise volume, or the amount of business transacted on its platforms, rose 29% to $27.5 billion.

Write to Kimberly Chin at kimberly.chin@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 28, 2021 19:50 ET (23:50 GMT)

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