eBay Meets Earnings Expectations, But Disappoints On Outlook

Second quarter performances for eBay were somewhat tepid — though mostly in line with investor expectations. The eCommerce marketplace clocked in with net income of $493 million, or 45 cents per share, which was just about what The Street was expecting to see. Revenue of $2.3 billion also met expectations, but indicates growth of only 4 percent since this time last year.

“During the past two years, we have made significant progress to modernize eBay and drive growth by improving the customer experience, creating a product catalog that covers more than half of our inventory, and sharpening the eBay brand,” said eBay President and CEO Devin Wenig in a statement released alongside earnings.

But eBay stocks saw a price decline on the day, as revenue next quarter is projected to be weak. The firm is anticipating a decline of between $2.35 and $2.39 billion during Q3 — a bit above analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. Earnings guidance — which eBay is predicting to fall in the range of 46 cents and 48 cents per share — managed to hit the lower bound of expert projections.

All in all, analysts are looking for eBay to bring down $9.4 billion in revenue this year, in line with eBay’s issued guidance on Thursday. Last year, the firm reported total revenue of $9 billion, a five percent increase from 2015.

As for the other key figures, gross merchandise volume came in at $21.5 billion during Q2 — a 3 percent increase from this time in 2016. GMV grew 5 percent last quarter. Revenue growth was also somewhat sluggish among the eBay family of brands: Marketplace, StubHub and Classifieds. Transaction revenues for Marketplace and StubHub were up 5 percent and 1 percent, respectively.

As for what’s next — Wenig signaled the firm’s intentions to push harder into global eCommerce. That effort began with a massive investment (alongside Microsoft and Tencent) in Indian eCommerce marketplace Flipkart. eBay now plans to consolidate eBay India under Flipkart — a firm currently valued at over $11 billion.

“We continue to believe there are significant opportunities to expand our business inorganically through our M&A and partnership strategy,” Wenig said in an April conference call.