eBay Lackluster, But Not Too Pessimistic (EBAY)

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) has just posted its first quarter earnings.  The online auction giant reported a non-GAAP earnings of $0.39 EPS and $2.02 billion in revenue.  Thomson Reuters had estimates at $0.34 EPS and $1.94 billion in revenue.  Keep in mind that last year in the same quarter that eBay posted revenue of $2.192 billion, and that actually understates the trends in auctions.

The auction giant also sees $0.34 to $0.36 in non-GAAP EPS in the current quarter and revenue of $1.850 to $2.050 billion, while estimates are $0.34 EPS and $1.98 billion in revenue.  Its revenue in Q2-2008 was $2.195 billion, so this is yet another year-over-year drop.

On interesting note here is that eBay’s tax rate was 1% lower at 22% non-GAAP for the quarter.  Its cash and cash equivalents totaled $3.06 billion at March 31, 2009, down from $3.19 billion at December 31, 2008.

The company’s Payments business unit reported $643 million in revenue, an increase of 11% year-over-year.  The Marketplaces business unit (eBay, Shopping.com, StubHub, Kijiji, etc.) contributed $1.22 billion in revenue, equating to an 18% year-over-year decline.  Skype contributed $153.2 million in revenue for the quarter, representing 21% year-over-year growth.  The real issue here appears to be that the auctions are just dropping off, and this is an issue we have addressed on several occasions.

Shares closed up over 3% at $14.78 in regular trading, and the 52-week trading range is $9.91 to $32.10.  Shares are trading up 5.5% at $14.78 on the initial after-hours reaction.  Being lackluster and posting a drop doesn’t mean that Wall Street won’t reward ‘less-bad’ results.

Jon C. Ogg