EBay Beats Earnings Forecast
EBay Q2 Profits More Than Triple, As Mammoth Internet Marketplace Beats Wall Street Earnings Forecast
By BRIAN BERGSTEIN
AP Business Writer
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Second-quarter profits more than tripled at eBay Inc. (NasdaqNM:EBAY - news), and the mammoth Internet marketplace said Thursday that business will be even better than expected the rest of the year.
In the three-month period ending June 30, eBay earned $24.6 million, or 9 cents per share, on revenue of $180.9 million. In the year-ago quarter, the company earned $7.5 million, or 3 cents per share, on revenue of $98.2 million.
Excluding one-time charges, eBay's earnings would have been 12 cents a share, above analysts' expectations of 9 cents, according to Thomson Financial/First Call.
Shares of eBay fell $2.14, more than 3 percent, to close at $64.40 on the Nasdaq Stock Market before the earnings report. The stock jumped to $66.52 early in the extended trading period.
``It's clear that our business has excellent momentum,'' CEO and president Meg Whitman said in a statement. ``We're seeing sustained growth across categories, trading formats, and in our international operations.''
Counting users brought on with the acquisition of a European auction site, iBazar, eBay added more than 4.4 million users in the second quarter and now boasts more than 34.1 million, more than double the total this time last year.
That surge could help increase revenue in the second half of the year to between $385 million and $400 million, which is $15 million to $30 million higher than previous forecasts. EBay also said second-half earnings per share, excluding charges, are expected to be as much as 21 or 22 cents; Wall Street was expecting 20 cents.
For the first six months of 2001, eBay earned $45.7 million, 16 cents per share, on revenue of $335 million. That compares to first-half profits last year of $9.2 million, 3 cents per share, on revenue of $184 million. |
