EBay's strong quarter, robust forecast send shares 5% higher
(Reuters) - EBay Inc beat analysts’ quarterly revenue estimates and forecast second-quarter sales largely above expectations on Tuesday, as the company’s multi-year effort to make its ecommerce platforms more user friendly attracts more customers.
Shares of the company, which is also in the middle of a review of its StubHub and eBay Classifieds businesses following activist investor pressure, rose 5 percent in extended trading.
EBay, facing rising competition from the likes of Amazon.com Inc and Walmart Inc, has also been focusing on its emerging businesses such as advertising and payments.
The company has been working to make its platform simpler to use, introducing grouped listings, personal recommendations and a friendlier payment process.
San Jose, California-based eBay in March also said it would appoint two new directors to its board as part of an agreement to ease pressure from the activist investors.
EBay forecast second-quarter adjusted profit of 61 cents to 63 cents per share and revenue of $2.64 billion to $2.69 billion.
Analysts on average were expecting a profit of 60 cents per share and revenue of $2.65 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
The company reported net revenue of $2.64 billion for the first quarter ended March 31, up 2.4 percent from a year earlier, and beating analysts’ average estimate of $2.58 billion.
EBay’s net income rose to $518 million, or 57 cents per share, from $407 million, or 40 cents per share, a year earlier.
The company’s income from continuing operations was $521 million.
Excluding items, eBay earned 67 cents per share, beating estimates of 63 cents per share.
Reporting by Arjun Panchadar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila
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