EBay Beats Expectations In First Earnings Report After PayPal Spinoff

(RTTNews) - In its first earnings report since spinning off its PayPal business, online auction company eBay Inc. (EBAY) reported a decline in its third-quarter earnings, once one-time items are stripped out. However, the bottom line came in above what market analysts were projecting.

eBay also provided a forecast for the fourth quarter that was generally in line with what analysts were predicting.

The company reported income from continuing operations of $545 million, or $0.45 per share. This was up from $509 million, or $0.41 per share, in the same period last year.

Excluding one-time items, however, the company's profit slipped 9 percent to $529 million. Earnings per share fell to $0.43 from $0.46 last year.

However, the bottom line came in well ahead of analysts expectations. Wall Street experts had expected eBay to earn $0.40 per share, according to a survey conducted by Thomson Reuters.

Revenue for the period edged down to $2.099 billion for the third quarter. This was off 2 percent from last year's mark of $2.15 billion. The top line still came in slightly above the $2.09 billion projected by analysts.

The company said that its gross merchandise volume was up 6 percent for the quarter, excluding the impact of foreign currency exchange.

Commenting on the quarterly results, President and CEO Devin Wenig noted that the company completed the complex separation of PayPal during the quarter. He also reminded investors that the eBay celebrated 20 years of doing business during the past few months.

"We also marked eBay's 20th anniversary and made progress on executing our strategy to reposition the company to deliver stable and profitable long-term growth," he said.

Looking ahead, the company said it now expects earnings for the fourth quarter of $0.47 to $0.49 per share, excluding the impact of one-time items. Revenue is projected to be between $2.275 billion and $2.325 billion.

Analysts are predicting a fourth-quarter profit of $0.49 per share on revenue of about $2.33 billion.