eBay Earnings Just Aren’t Enough For Investors

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) reported its second quarter financial results after the markets closed on Thursday. The online auctioneer said that it had $0.45 in earnings per share (EPS) and $2.3 billion in revenue, compared with consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters that called for $0.45 in EPS and $2.31 billion in revenue. The same period from last year had $0.45 in EPS and $2.22 billion in revenue.

In the second quarter, eBay added two million active buyers across its platforms, for a total of 171 million global active buyers.

The company delivered $21.5 billion in gross merchandise volume (GMV) for the quarter, an increase of 3% on an as-reported basis and 5% on a foreign exchange neutral basis.

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In terms of the outlook for the third quarter, the company expects to see EPS in the range of $0.46 to $0.48 and revenues in the range of $2.35 billion to $2.39 billion. There are consensus estimates calling for $0.48 in EPS and $2.32 billion in revenue for the same period.

During this quarter, the company repurchased roughly $507 million in common stock, with a remaining $479 million in the repurchase authorization at the end of the quarter.. At the same time, the board of directors announced that it has approved an additional $3.0 billion stock repurchase authorization.

On the books, cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments totaled $9.0 billion at the end of the quarter, versus $7.1 billion at the end of the previous fiscal year.

Devin Wenig, President and CEO of eBay, commented:

In Q2, eBay delivered strong top and bottom line financial results, led by Marketplace acceleration. 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. We are on track and focused on creating an even stronger eBay for years to come.

Shares of eBay were closed Thursday at $37.18, with a consensus analyst price target of $36.46 and a 52-week range of $27.28 to $37.48. The stock was down about 4% at $35.69 in early trading indications Friday.

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