X
Business

eBay attributes strong Q3 earnings to Marketplaces, PayPal

eBay's Q3 revenue climbed up to $3.4 billion, a 15 percent increase from the same quarter last year.
Written by Rachel King, Contributor

Despite last week's rumors of major layoffs looming at PayPal, eBay reported much better-than-expected third quarter earnings on Wednesday after the bell.

The e-commerce giant reported a third quarter net income of $597 million, or 45 cents a share (statement). Non-GAAP earnings were 55 cents a share on a revenue of $3.4 billion -- up 15 percent from the same time last year.

Wall Street was looking for eBay to report third quarter earnings of 42 cents a share on revenue of $2.63 billion.

However, eBay shares were initially down -- although not by much -- in after-hours trading by approximately 3.9 percent following Q3 results.

CEO John Donahoe commented in prepared remarks:

We had a great third quarter across our company, with Marketplaces and PayPal accelerating customer growth. Mobile continues to be a game changer for us, and we continue to be a clear leader in mobile commerce and payments. With our strong portfolio and global reach, we are consistently demonstrating our capabilities to help consumers shop anytime, anywhere. And we are enabling retailers of all sizes to compete in a rapidly evolving, multichannel commerce environment.

Here's the breakdown for eBay's top subsidiaries and how they contributed:

  • PayPal: PayPal has 117.4 million active registered accounts (up 14 percent from Q3 2011). Revenue increased 23 percent year-over-year. Net total payment volume grew by 20 percent year-over-year to $35.2 billion.
  • Marketplaces: Gross merchandise volume (excluding vehicles) increased 11 percent year-over-year to $16 billion. Active user growth reached 10 percent year-over-year -- the fastest growth rate for Marketplaces since 2007. 800,000 new users came from mobile.
  • GSI: Revenue increased 12 percent year-over-year to $226 million. Same store sales grew 19 percent year-over-year.

For the outlook, eBay is banking big on the holiday season with a projected revenue of $3.85 billion to $4 billion at the end of Q4 2012 with non-GAAP earnings between 66 to 69 cents a share.

For the fourth quarter, eBay is expected to report earnings of 53 cents a share on revenue of $3.04 billion.

For the entire calendar year, eBay is forecasting revenue to fall within the range $13.95 billion to $14.1 billion with non-GAAP earnings per share between $2.32 and $2.35.

Additional Q3 highlights:

  • PayPal partnered with Discover to access its 7 million retail locations in the United States.
  • Downloads of eBay's suite of mobile apps have now surpassed 100 million worldwide.
  • GAAP and non-GAAP net income were up 22 percent and 14 percent, respectively, year-over-year, which eBay attributes to strong top-line growth.
Editorial standards