eBay posts strong Q1, revenue at $4.45 billion

eBay Inc. reported first quarter earnings and revenue after the bell Wednesday, with results that beat the street with the help of PayPal's transaction growth and corporate cost control.

The San Jose, Calif.-headquartered corporation reported a net income of $626 million, or 51 cents per share (statement).

Non-GAAP earnings were 77 cents per share on revenue of $4.45 billion.

Wall Street was looking for earnings of 70 cents per share on revenue of $4.42 billion.

eBay shares jumped up 5 percent in after market trading following the solid report.

eBay CEO John Donahoe made a point to reassure investors that the everything is still running smoothly for the planned split from PayPal -- which now has a more concrete timeframe.

"I feel very good about the performance of our teams at eBay and PayPal," he said in prepared remarks. "Each business is executing well with greater focus and operating discipline as we prepare to separate eBay and PayPal into independent publicly traded companies. We are moving forward with clarity and speed, with a smooth separation expected in the third quarter."

As always, PayPal was the most significant growth driver for the quarter, bringing in $2.1 billion in revenue while increasing payment volume by 18 percent. PayPal also added 3.6 million active accounts.

eBay's Marketplaces and Enterprise units were less impressive. Marketplaces gross merchandise volume dropped 2 percent, which the company blames on the strengthening dollar. On the up side, the platform gained 2 million new buyers for an annual increase of 8 percent.

eBay Enterprise, which was widely expected to be either spun off or sold at this point, brought in $288 million in revenue. eBay gave no significant details as to its plans for the consulting service, only to say, "We continue to explore strategic options for eBay Enterprise."

For the current quarter, eBay expects net revenues in the range of $440 to $450 million with EPS between 44 cents and 49 cents.