InvestIdeas

EBay Falls After Outlook Misses Analysts Estimates (Update1)

By Beth Jinks and Joseph Galante

Jan. 21 (Bloomberg) -- EBay Inc., the world's biggest Internet auctioneer, tumbled in late trading after it projected first-quarter sales and profit that were below analysts estimates.

EBay, based in San Jose, California, fell 6.5 percent to $12.42 at 5:10 p.m. New York time, after the announcement. The shares gained 73 cents, or 5.8 percent, to $13.28 in regular Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. They tumbled 58 percent last year.

First-quarter earnings will be 32 cents to 34 cents a share, EBay said today in a statement, compared with 39 cents, the average estimate of 17 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Revenue will be $1.8 billion to $2.05 billion, compared with an average estimate of $2.1 billion.

Sales fell 6.6 percent to $2.04 billion in the fourth quarter, EBay's first quarterly revenue decline, as sellers cut prices and the company boosted promotions to lure more holiday shoppers online amid the U.S. recession. Earnings also were hurt by foreign-currency changes, including the stronger U.S. dollar.

Net income dropped 31 percent to $367.1 million, or 29 cents a share, from $530.9 million, or 39 cents, a year earlier, EBay said in the statement. Excluding some items, EBay earned 41 cents a share, beating the 39-cent average of 24 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Kijiji, StubHub

Gross merchandise volume, the value of all goods that users sold on EBay’s sites excluding vehicles, fell 12 percent to $11.5 billion, the second drop in the company’s history.

Revenue from EBays marketplaces businesses, including its namesake auction and fixed-price Web site, Kijiji online classifieds, and ticket re-seller StubHub fell 16 percent to $1.27 billion in the fourth quarter, hurt by the slow-down of the e-commerce market globally, EBay said.

EBay's Web sites attracted fewer new visitors compared with a year earlier. About 55 percent of marketplaces revenue came from outside the U.S., the company said.

Payments revenue rose 11 percent to $623 million in the quarter, as more companies and customers opted to use EBay's PayPal Internet unit. Active registered accounts climbed 23 percent to 70 million.

Payment income was boosted by the online-credit service Bill Me Later, which EBay agreed to buy in October for $945 million. Bill Me Later gives users the option for deferred payments, allowing PayPal to make more money on transactions by avoiding fee payments to credit-card companies and charging interest on credit transactions.

Revenue from its Skype Internet telephone unit climbed 26 percent to $145 million, EBay said. Skype added 35 million users in the quarter, and now has more than 405 million.

Source: Bloomberg

Not exactly EBay news.

But, Skype which it has sold off, is filing for US$100M IPO as ADR.

This should be worth watching when it happens.

i wonder why Skype would want to opt to be "listed" as ADR?

if i'm not wrong, companies who issue ADRs do not actually part "shares" of their holdings to holders of ADRs... that means, you actually do not own a piece of Skype if you buy their ADRs...

in other words, they are simply borrowing money from the market place...without much obligations...

tio bo?

not vested

Tech Stocks: eBay (EBAY)

Given the tone and timbre of its Q4 earnings conference call back in January, it would have been easy to assume the worst regarding the Q1 numbers for eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY).

Specifically, CEO John Donahoe stated then, “2015 will be another challenging year, and we expect eBay’s performance to soften further before we see stabilization and improvement. We still have work to do.” CFO Robert Swan followed up by making a point of broadly saying “It’s going to get worse before it gets better.”

Yikes.

In retrospect, though, one can’t help but wonder if eBay was simply trying to sandbag expectations. The online-auction site’s first quarter earnings numbers announced on Wednesday were far better than expected.

Sales-wise, eBay drove $4.45 billion revenue versus expectations of $4.42 billion. On the profit front, the company backed net earnings of 77 cents per share versus expectations of only 70 cents per share of EBAY stock.

Bolstering the sandbagging theory is the fact that eBay hasn’t missed estimates in seven straight quarters. Very few tech stocks can claim the same.

Source: Investorplace

Online auction house eBay soars to an all-time high.

Online auction house eBay rises 25% over the past year.

not vested

Tech Stocks to Short #3: eBay (EBAY)

Going into the latest earnings report, there was little confidence with eBay (EBAY). But the company was able to post a beat, which popped the stock by 12%.

But this is likely to remain a temporary thing. For the most part, the core business of eBay remains in neutral, as revenues declined about 2% in the latest quarter.

And this should not be a surprise, either. Of course, eBay must fight against biggies like Amazon (AMZN). What’s more, the competitive environment is likely to intensify as brick-and-mortar retailers boost their commerce efforts. Keep in mind that this was a key part of Walmart’s (WMT) latest announcement to the Street.

But eBay is also suffering from a perception problem — that is, the company’s brand is about auctions and vintage items. No doubt, such things are mostly niche. And eBay does not have other compelling features, such as a sophisticated delivery system. The company also has had to deal with the adverse impacts on traffic because of changes in the search algorithms from Alphabet’s (GOOG, GOOGL) Google.

Finally, eBay recently spun off its PayPal (PYPL) division, which was actually the part of the business that was showing much of the growth! So going forward, it’s tough to make a case that there will be much momentum for eBay.

Source: Investor Place

THE CONSUMER IS ALIVE AND WELL: INTERNET EDITION

Today's chart confirms two things: The U.S. consumer is still busy shopping... and he's doing it from the comfort of his own home.

Last month, we highlighted the bull market in Internet stocks. These companies are in a long-term uptrend, and they include some of the most popular stocks over the past year (one example is online retailer Amazon, up 100%-plus).

Another Internet stock soaring as of late is online auctioneer eBay (EBAY).

It's not hard to see why the business is thriving. It's one of the world's largest online marketplaces, a go-to stop for buying and selling almost any item imaginable, from a pair of women's shoes to a snowmobile.

The company boasts nearly 160 million active users worldwide and has around 800 million items listed at any given time.

As you can see from the chart below, this trend is gaining momentum in 2015. The stock has climbed nearly 20% since October alone... and shares just struck a new all-time high. I

t's another big win for Internet stocks... and more evidence that the U.S. consumer is alive and well...

Source: Daily Wealth

Online-auction website eBay surges to an all-time high after beating earnings.

not vested

THE BULL MARKET IN ONLINE SHOPPING

Things might not be all rosy in the U.S., but you wouldn't know it by looking at today's chart...

Earlier this year, we highlighted the long-term uptrend in online retailer Amazon, whose shares are up nearly 140% since the start of 2015.

Another Internet retailer on the rise is online auctioneer eBay (EBAY).

As one of the world's largest online marketplaces, eBay is a one-stop shop for anyone looking to buy or sell anything from a tennis racquet to a pickup truck.

With more than 160 million active users on the site, and around 1 billion items listed for sale at any given time, it's no wonder why business is booming for eBay today.

You can see below that eBay shares have been one of the market's strongest performers in recent history. The stock is up more than 115% over the last five years, recently hitting a fresh multiyear high.

If U.S. consumers continue to buy and sell their goods at a record pace, can things really be all that bad?

Source: Daily Wealth