eBay profits up 22 percent on listing gains
The Web auctioneer reports a jump in profits, but its third-quarter outlook fails to excite Wall Street.
It's not a bad week for eBay.
First the company defended itself successfully against a trademark lawsuit filed by jeweler Tiffany, and now the company has said that profits jumped 22 percent from last year. None of this impressed Wall Street much.
The Web's largest online auctioneer said after the close of trading Wednesday that second-quarter net earnings grew to $460.3 million, or 35 cents a share, up from $375.8 million a year ago. The boost came from an increase in item listings and sales growth at the company's PayPal division.
The company's share price closed up 4.5 percent to $28.10, but surrendered the gains following the earnings report. The stock fell more than 7 percent to $26.10 in in after-hours trading.
Apparently, investors were less than enthused with eBay's third-quarter outlook. Excluding some costs, eBay predicted that it will report a profit between 39 cents and 41 cents a share, on sales of about $2.15 billion.
Analysts had expected earnings of 41 cents on revenue of $2.17 billion.
On Monday, eBay won a court victory against Tiffany. The jeweler accused eBay of profiting from sales of counterfeit Tiffany goods, but the judge in the case found that it's up to brand owners to police for phony products.