EBay Inc.’s stock rose 3% in extended trading Tuesday after the online marketplace delivered quarterly results that topped analysts’ estimates and issued stout guidance, assuaging for now concerns over its short-term business prospects.
The e-commerce company hiked its dividend by two cents and announced a $2 billion stock repurchase program.
EBay
EBAY,
rang up fiscal fourth-quarter net income of $728 million, or $1.07 a share, compared with net income of $671 million, or $1.07 a share, in the same quarter a year ago.
Revenue climbed to $2.56 billion from $2.51 billion in the year-ago quarter.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected on average net income of $1.03 a share on revenue of $2.51 billion.
EBay provided first-quarter sales guidance of $2.5 billion to $2.54 billion, while FactSet analysts are forecasting $2.53 billion.
Shares of eBay have declined 3% over the past year, while the broader S&P 500 index
SPX
has increased 28%.
Analysts said eBay’s fourth-quarter performance underscores a resilient e-commerce market for shoppers despite their concerns over the state of the economy and competition from Chinese sellers, Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN,
and Walmart Inc.
WMT,
The results come amid a rough patch for eBay. Last month, the company said it planned to slash 9% of its workforce, or about 1,000 people, in the face of a business slowdown and “challenging” economy, eBay Chief Executive Jamie Iannone said in a blog post.
Iannone said the size of the company’s staff and its expenses “have outpaced the growth of our business.” EBay is also terminating its relationship with contractors.
Read the full article here
