EBay Q4 Profit Tops Street, But Shares Down On Weak Outlook

(RTTNews) - eBay Inc. (EBAY) Wednesday reported a fourth-quarter profit that trumped Wall Street analysts' estimates, as did revenues. However, shares of the company slipped over 5% after the company issued a weak outlook for the first quarter.

eBay's fourth-quarter profit dropped to $558 million or $0.69 per share from $763 million or $0.80 per share last year.

Excluding one-time items, income from continuing operations $661 million or $0.81 per share, down from $670 million or $0.71 per share last year. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.76 per share for the quarter.

Revenues for the quarter dropped 2 percent to $2.82 billion from $2.88 billion last year. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $2.81 billion for the quarter.

Interim CEO Scott Schenkel said, "As we enter 2020, our priorities are clear - we will continue to drive revenue through our growth initiatives, deliver more seller tools, improve the buyer experience by leveraging our structured data foundation, all while driving more margin expansion. We believe these efforts will position us for sustainable, profitable long-term growth and I am excited by the opportunities ahead."

In the fourth quarter, the company grew active buyers by 2 percent to a total of 183 million active buyers on the site. Gross merchandise volume for the quarter was down 5 percent to $22.0 billion.

Looking forward to the first quarter, the company expects revenues between $2.55 billion and $2.60 billion and adjusted earnings of $0.70 to $0.73 per share. Analysts currently expect earnings of $0.70 per share on revenues of $2.64 billion.

For full year 2020, the company expects revenues of $10.72 billion to $10.92 billion and adjusted earnings of $2.95 to $3.05 per share. Analysts currently estimate earnings of $2.69 per share and revenues of $10.92 billion.

EBAY closed Tuesday's trading at $36.21, up $0.73 or 2.06%, on the Nasdaq. The stock, however, slipped $1.87 or 5.16% in the after-hours trading.