eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) is scheduled to report its third-quarter financial results after the markets close on Wednesday. The consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters call for $0.40 in earnings per share (EPS) on $2.09 billion in revenue. The same period from the previous year had $0.46 in EPS on $4.35 billion in revenue.

While some on Wall Street have lost enthusiasm for the company, Merrill Lynch is very positive going forward. eBay recently spun off its lucrative PayPal division and comes in rated high on a Merrill Lynch screen that tracks earnings momentum. eBay operates as a technology company that enables commerce and payments on behalf of users, merchants, retailers and brands of various sizes in the United States and internationally.

After meeting with the chief financial officer of the company, Merrill Lynch analysts cited that while eBay is cautious on near-term growth, it was optimistic on long-term structured data, social marketing and balance sheet opportunities. It also said that 2016 may be an outstanding year as the company faces easy comparisons and margin improvement opportunities, and it has $4 billion in new debt and free cash flow to buy back stock.

A few companies weighed in on eBay ahead of its earnings:

• RBC Capital reiterated a Buy rating.
• Baird reiterated a Buy rating.
• Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded eBay to a Hold rating from Buy.
• Piper Jaffray upgraded the stock to Neutral from Underweight.

So far in 2015 eBay is positive, with shares up 3.4% year to date, while over the course of the past 52 weeks the stock is up nearly 18%.

Shares of eBay were trading at $24.53 midday Wednesday, with a consensus analyst price target of $29.80 and a 52-week trading range of $20.84 to $29.35.

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