eBay Earnings and Guidance: Close but No Cigar

April 26, 2018 by Chris Lange

When eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) released its most recent quarterly results after the markets closed on Wednesday, the online auctioneer said that it had $0.53 in earnings per share (EPS) on $2.58 billion in revenue. The consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters had called for $0.53 in EPS on revenue of $2.59 billion. The first quarter of last year reportedly had $0.49 in EPS on $2.22 billion in revenue.

In the first quarter, eBay grew active buyers by 4% across its platforms, for a total of 171 million global active buyers. Underlying total eBay performance, the Marketplace platforms delivered $2.1 billion of revenue and $22.5 billion of gross merchandise value.

Also during the quarter, eBay announced that it will acquire Giosis’s Japan business, including the Qoo10.jp platform. This acquisition will significantly expand eBay’s footprint in Japan, one of the largest e-commerce markets in the world, and it is expected to close in the second quarter of 2018.

Looking ahead to the second quarter, eBay expects net revenue to be in the range of $2.64 billion to $2.68 billion, with EPS between $0.50 and $0.52. The consensus estimates call for $0.52 in EPS on $2.69 billion in revenue for the coming quarter.

As for the full year, the firm expects to see net revenues between $10.9 billion and $11.1 billion and EPS of $2.25 to $2.30. The consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters are $2.29 in EPS on $11.0 billion in revenue.

On the books, eBay cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments totaled $4.81 billion, down from $5.86 billion at the end of the previous fiscal year.

Devin Wenig, president and CEO, kept it short and sweet:

In Q1 we drove good growth and made further progress with our multi-year effort to transform our customer experience and sharpen the eBay brand.

Shares of eBay were last seen down over 6% at $38.37, with a consensus analyst price target of $49.54 and a 52-week range of $32.80 to $46.99.

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