eBay profits show cause for optimism after PayPal split

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It appears as if eBay’s first post-PayPal split quarter has gone better than expected, even though the company has revealed its revenue fell by 2.4 per cent to $2.1 billion from $2.15 billion last year.

The mood at the e-commerce giant appears to jovial as the eBay Inc. President and CEO Devin Wenig said, “We drove solid results in the quarter in which we completed a complex separation.”

The company highlighted that gross merchandise volume for the quarter  increased 6 per cent, although net income fell to $539m from $673m a year earlier.

It has been an important year for the company, most notably because on July 18th, it saw its main driver of growth PayPal become a separate entity.

The spinoff led to experts to suggest that the e-commerce giant’s third quarter profits would take a noticeable hit.

“The worst case scenario kind of came off the table,” said Steve Weinstein, a senior analyst at ITG Investment Research. “I think the Street was preparing for something really bad.”

However, eBay in fact raised its forecast for adjusted profit from continuing operations for the full year to $1.80-$1.82 per share from $1.72-$1.77, above what analysts were expecting.

The announcement of the results sent eBay shares soaring by almost 9 per cent, which is encouraging for the company given how e-commerce competition is intensifying in particular with many brands such as Walmart going online, and Alibaba expanding into Europe.

 

 

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