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eBay profits jump....
habs71
Posts: 321
<< <i>eBay trumps forecasts
Internet auction site posts sharp rise in sales and profits, ups outlook; stock jumps after hours.
January 21, 2004: 5:56 PM EST
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - eBay Wednesday reported sharply higher sales and profits for the fourth quarter, easily beating forecasts on Wall Street, and raised its outlook for the current year.
The better-than-expected results came on the back of a strong holiday season and sparked a rally in its stock.
The San Jose, Calif.-based Internet auction company said net income jumped 64 percent to $142.5 million, or 21 cents a share, from $87 million, or 14 cents a share, a year earlier.
Excluding amortization of goodwill, stock-based compensation expenses and acquisition-related costs, eBay (EBAY: Research, Estimates) earned $157 million, or 24 cents a share. Analysts had forecast a profit of 22 cents a share, according to First Call.
Sales for the quarter grew 57 percent to $648 million from $414 million. The consensus estimate was $623 million.
eBay's stock rose $2.30 to $66.68 in after-hours trading, according to Instinet, after falling about 2 percent during regular trading on Nasdaq. eBay stock split two-for-one last July.
The number of people signed up to use eBay also showed strong growth. eBay had 94.9 million registered users at the end of the quarter, up 54 percent from a year ago and up 9.4 million from the prior quarter, the company said.
eBay's gross merchandise sales (GMA), or the total value of items sold, came in at a record $7.1 billion, up 53 percent from a year ago.
"All the key business metrics are in good shape, and this ship continues to head in the right direction," said Shawn Milne, analyst with Soundview Technology Corp. "This was a very strong quarter all around. eBay's international division did exceptionally well while the U.S. division also looks pretty healthy."
The company also boosted both its revenue and profit forecast for 2004.
eBay said in now expects revenue for the year to be as high a $3 billion, compared to its earlier guidance of $2.9 billion, and it sees profits of $1.04 a share for the full year, up from its earlier forecast of 98 cents a share.
"2003 was an inflection point for us," Rajiv Dutta, eBay's chief financial officer, told analysts during its earnings call. "In 2004, we are more confident than ever of the long-term trajectory of our business."
Dutta added that eBay is looking for investment opportunity, particularly in areas of product development, international expansion and in its online payment services company, PayPal.
Additionally, Dutta said the eBay expected only a "modest" business impact from the company's recent fee hike in 15 countries. "These changes have a long lead time. The impact was already factored into our prior guidance," he said.
Regarding eBay's Motors unit -- the company's auto-sales unit -- Meg Whitman, eBay's president and CEO said during the call that the company was pleased with the changes implemented in the fourth quarter to make it a more user-friendly service.
money.cnn.com >>
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Nick
Reap the whirlwind.
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<< <i>I never even received a reply back regarding the outcome of the investigation (if there was one). >>
Dude,
And you probably never will...(taken directly from a recent e-mail I received for reporting ticket scalpers)...
<< <i>We will thoroughly investigate the item number(s) you have reported. Please keep in mind that the actions taken on a specific listing are confidential and between eBay and the seller. We will not be able to keep you abreast of any developments for privacy reasons, but we assure you that we will thoroughly examine this information. >>
Currently collecting.....your guess is as good as mine.