SAN JOSE (dpa-AFX) - Online auctioneer eBay Inc. (EBAY) said Wednesday after the markets closed that its fourth quarter profit fell 62% from last year, when results were boosted by a hefty gain from the sale of online communications service Skype.
However, the company's adjusted earnings per share rose from last year and beat analysts estimate, driven by double digit user growth across the portfolio, strong gains in mobile adoption and accelerating growth in the company's Marketplaces business.
At the same time, the company forecast first quarter revenue and earnings below analysts' current consensus estimates.
'We had a great finish to an excellent year, with fourth quarter results exceeding our expectations,' said John Donahoe, eBay Inc. President and CEO. 'eBay Marketplaces in particular had a terrific fourth quarter, with growth in the U.S. accelerating three points, outpacing ecommerce.'
eBay shares are currently gaining 1.72% in after hours trading after closing the day's regular trading session at $52.90, up 40 cents. The shares trade in a 52-week range of $29.89 to $54.20.
eBay benefited from growing demand for online merchandise. Fourth quarter net revenues from the company's Marketplaces business, which consists of eBay, Shopping.com, StubHub, eBay Classifieds and other e-commerce sites, rose 16% to $2.05 billion, driven by strong performance in the United States.
Gross merchandise volume excluding vehicles in the fourth quarter increased 16% year over year to $19.1 billion.
Active user growth accelerated two points to 12%, driven by mobile, site enhancements designed to streamline the shopping experience on eBay and emerging markets.
Revenues from the company's Payments business unit, which includes online payment service PayPal, and short-term credit service Bill Me Later, increased 24% from a year ago to $1.54 billion in the fourth quarter.
PayPal ended the quarter and the year with 123 million active registered accounts, a 15% increase over last year. PayPal's net total payment volume (TPV) grew 24% to $41.5 billion in the fourth quarter.
GSI revenue for the fourth quarter increased 10% year over year to $398 million, driven mainly by a 17% year over year increase in global ecommerce merchandise sales. Same store sales grew 19% year over year, outpacing ecommerce. eBay completed the acquisition of GSI Commerce for nearly $2.4 billion in June 2011.
For the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2012, eBay reported net income of $751 million or $0.57 per share, compared to $1.98 billion or $1.51 per share for the year-ago quarter.
The year-ago quarter results included about $1.66 billion from the company's sale of Skype. The latest quarter results include $31 million in restructuring charges related to job cuts.
Excluding items, adjusted net income for the fourth quarter was $927 million or $0.70 per share, compared to $789 million or $0.60 per share in the prior year quarter.
On average, 33 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.69 per share for the fourth quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Operating margin for the quarter narrowed to 21.96% from 22.3% a year ago, while adjusted operating margin shrank to 28.5% from 28.7% last year, due mainly to the impact of acquisitions and business mix.
Net revenue for the third quarter rose 18% to $3.99 billion from $3.38 billion in the same quarter last year. Thirty-one analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $3.98 billion for the fourth quarter.
For the fourth quarter, eBay's U.S. revenues grew 17% to $1.95 billion, while International revenues rose 19% to $2.04 billion.
The company said it repurchased about $256 million of its common stock during the fourth quarter.
Looking forward to the first quarter, the company forecast net revenues of $3.65 billion to $3.75 billion, earnings of $0.48 to $0.50 per share and adjusted earnings of $0.60 to $0.62 per share. Analysts currently expect the company to earn $0.63 per share on revenue of $3.79 billion for the first quarter.
For the full year 2013, the company forecast net revenues of $16.00 billion to $16.50 billion, earnings $2.23 to $2.29 per share and adjusted earnings of $2.70 to $2.75 per share. Analysts currently expect the company to earn $2.74 per share on revenue of $16.30 billion for the full year 2013.
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