EBay $64~$69+ Reports 4Q Net Surged 64%, Raises Outlook, Surges to all time high
Wednesday January 21, 6:04 pm ET
SAN JOSE -- EBay Inc. (NasdaqNM:EBAY - News) reported a 64% jump in fourth-quarter net income jumped 64% thanks to increased listings and users, and the online-auction company raised its 2004 earnings estimate.
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EBay late Wednesday reported net income of $142.5 million, or 21 cents a share, up from $87 million, or 14 cents a share, in the year-earlier period.
Excluding amortization of acquired intangible assets and other expenses, eBay said it earned $157 million, or 24 cents a share, up from $87.6 million, or 14 cents a share, a year earlier.
Revenue surged 57% to $648.4 million from $413.9 million.
Results were better than the company's late-October estimates for net income of 19 cents a share on revenue of $590 million.
"Across every important metric, eBay's global momentum is rapidly accelerating. The business is delivering tremendous results and our long-term prospects couldn't be brighter," Meg Whitman (News) , chief executive and president, said in a prepared statement.
Gross merchandise sales -- a measure of total sales by eBay merchants and seen as an important barometer of activity on the site -- totaled $7.05 billion, up 53%.
Cumulative confirmed registered users reached 94.9 million, up 54% from last year.
Ebay said its 2004 net income could be as high as 99 cents a share on revenue of $3 billion. That projection is up from the company's October forecast for 2004 net of 91 cents a share on revenue of $2.9 billion. Full-year earnings, excluding items, are expected to be $1.04 a share.
EBay expects first-quarter net of as much as 24 cents a share on revenue of $ 700 million; second-quarter earnings as high as 23 cents a share on revenue of $ 720 million; third-quarter earnings of 23 cents a share on revenue of $725 million; and fourth-quarter earnings of 29 cents a share on revenue of $855 million.
For 2003, eBay reported net of $441.8 million, or 67 cents a share, up 77% from $249.9 million, or 43 cents a share, in 2002. Revenue surged 78% to $2.17 billion from $1.21 billion.
The company reported results after the close of trading Wednesday. As of 4 p.m. EST, its shares were down $1.32, or 2%, to $64.38. In after-hours trading, the stock changed hands at $66.63, according to INET.
Diana Rosenberg; Dow Jones Newswires; 609-520-7817 |
