eBay tops Q4 targets, says payments are part of long-term growth plan
eBay reported better-than-expected fourth quarter financial results on Tuesday. The San Jose, Calif.-headquartered corporation reported fourth quarter net income of $763 million, or 80 cents per share. Non-GAAP earnings were also 71 cents per share with revenue at $2.9 billion, up 6 percent from the same period last year.
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Wall Street was looking for earnings of 68 cents per share on revenue of $2.87 billion.
For its full year, eBay reported revenue of $10.7 billion, up 8 percent compared to 2017, and earnings of $2.32 per share.
eBay said gross merchandise volume came in at $24.6 billion, up 1 percent. The bulk came from its Marketplace platforms, which the company said Marketplace delivered $23.2 billion of GMV and $2.3 billion of revenue. eBay said it intermediated nearly $140 million in GMV during Q4, following the multi-year rollout of its managed payments capability.
eBay's ticket marketplace subsidiary StubHub delivered revenue of $314 million, up 2 percent from the same period last year. eBay said it grew active buyers by 4 percent across its platforms, for a total of 179 million.
"We delivered record earnings for the fourth quarter and full year 2018," eBay CEO said Devin Wenig. "In 2019, our focus will be on further improvements to the eBay user experience, while pursuing significant long-term growth opportunities in advertising and payments. We are confident in the strength of our business and future growth prospects, as demonstrated by our decision to institute eBay's first-ever dividend and increase our share repurchase program."
For the current quarter, eBay said it expects revenue between $2.55 billion and $2.60 billion and adjusted profit between 62 cents to 64 cents per share. Analysts are looking for Q1 revenue of $2.66 billion and EPS of 61 cents.
For full year 2019, eBay said it expects net revenue between $10.7 billion and $10.9 billion and earnings per share in the range of between $2.62 and $2.68. Wall Street expects eBay to report fiscal year revenue of $10.73 billion and earnings of $2.30 per share.