EBay posted Q3 profit and good sales, with rising numbers of active buyers all adding up to an encouraging first set of financials since the company split from PayPal.
Revenues of $2.1bn helped eBay to this promising position, a full three months after the PayPal separation was completed, although original estimates were already looking at a rather average result.
Profits reached 43c a share on that revenue (revenue, it must be said, that was slightly down on last year), almost 8pc higher than expected, but overall profit actually dropped 25pc ($673m down to $539m).
What’s fairly positive is not just the fact that these numbers were posted after the PayPal break, but also amid a confusing time for companies relying on search engine traffic, with tweaks to Google’s search analytics still hurting the online seller.
“We drove solid results in the quarter in which we completed a complex separation,” said eBay president and CEO Devin Wenig. “We also marked eBay’s 20th anniversary and made progress on executing our strategy to reposition the company to deliver stable and profitable long-term growth.”
EBay also bought back almost $600m worth of stock, with StubHub noted as a positive factor in this set of results.
“There’s stability in the business,” said Wenig, citing both sales figures and customer growth as evidence of this. “That gives us comfort to raise guidance for the year.”
Main image via Shutterstock
