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New York - EBay said on Wednesday that its second-quarter profit jumped 22%, as the online auction company enjoyed strong growth in its e-commerce sites and its PayPal payments service.
But eBay's outlook for the current quarter was softer than analysts had been forecasting, and the auction company's shares fell 6.6% in after-hours trading. The stock had gained 4.5% in regular trading to close at $28.10.
San Jose, California-based eBay earned $460m, or 35c per share, compared with $376m, or 27c per share, in the year-ago quarter. Excluding certain items, eBay earned 43c per share.
That beat Wall Street's forecast for 41c per share.
EBay's revenue rose 20% to $2.20bn. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had been looking for $2.17bn in revenue.
Revenue from eBay's marketplaces segment, which includes eBay, Shopping.com, StubHub and other e-commerce websites, rose 13% to $1.46bn.
Sharper growth came from PayPal, whose revenue rose 32% to $602m. Revenue from its online telecommunications service, Skype, rose 51% to $130m.
Listings on eBay's site climbed 19% to 667 million during the quarter, but the company's number of active users - an important measure of how well the company is attracting new buyers and sellers - rose only 1.4% to 84.5 million.
Looking ahead, eBay expects third-quarter earnings of 30c to 32c per share, or 39c to 41c per share on an adjusted basis, and $2.10bn to $2.15bn in revenue.
Analysts were expecting better: adjusted earnings of 41c per share on $2.18bn in revenue.
For the full year, eBay now anticipates earnings of $1.72 to $1.77 per share on an adjusted basis, and $8.80bn to $9.05bn in revenue. The company had predicted adjusted earnings of $1.70 to $1.75 on $8.70 to $9bn in revenue in April.
Analysts had been looking for adjusted earnings of $1.74 per share on $9.01bn in revenue.
Jim Friedland, an analyst at Cowen & Company, said he was concerned that the growth rate for the total value of goods for sale on eBay, or GMV, declined in the quarter compared with the rate in the year-ago period excluding the positive impact of foreign exchange differences.
"As we head into the second half, it's very possible that the economy will have an even greater impact on demand both in the US and internationally," he said.
Chief financial officer Bob Swan said on the conference call that the total value of goods for sale on the site saw an impact from a "rapid" decline in the value for vehicles sold on eBay and lower average selling prices on items.
Swan said average selling prices fell in part because of consumers moving to buying cheaper items. "I think we will continue to feel the effects of that until the economy rebounds," he said.
Also on Wednesday, eBay said its president of marketplaces, Rajiv Dutta, 47, will retire in October after 10 years with the company. Lorrie Norrington, 48, who has worked as president of eBay's marketplace operations, will take his place.
- AP