Yahoo Finance Investors Bid Up eBay After Another Beat and Raise
eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) released better-than-expected first-quarter 2019 results on Tuesday after the market closed, highlighting continued marketplace platform improvements and steady progress developing incremental growth opportunities in the budding advertising and payments spaces.
With shares of the e-commerce leader up around 5% in after-hours trading in response, let's log on for a closer look at eBay's encouraging start to the new year.
Image source: Getty Images.
eBay results: The raw numbers
Metric | Q1 2019 | Q1 2018 | Year-Over-Year Growth |
|---|---|---|---|
Revenue | $2.643 billion | $2.580 billion | 2.4% |
GAAP net income from continuing operations | $521 million | $407 million | 28% |
GAAP earnings per diluted share | $0.57 | $0.40 | 42.5% |
Data source: eBay.
What happened with eBay this quarter?
Revenue grew 4% on a constant-currency basis.
On an adjusted (non-GAAP) basis, eBay's net income from continuing operations climbed 10.9% year over year to $608 million. Adjusted earnings per share grew 26.4% to $0.67.
By comparison, eBay's guidance provided in January called for lower revenue between $2.55 billion and $2.60 billion, and lower adjusted earnings per share of $0.62 to $0.64.
Gross merchandise volume (GMV) declined 4% as reported (down 1% at constant currency) to $22.6 billion.
Active buyers increased 4% across eBay's platforms to 180 million, up from 179 million last quarter.
Marketplace platform revenue rose 3% as reported (4% at constant currency), to $2.2 billion on Marketplace GMV of $21.6 billion.
StubHub revenue was flat at $230 million, with a 3% decline (down 2% at constant currency) in GMV to $1.0 billion.
Classifieds revenue grew 4% as reported (12% at constant currency) to $256 million.
In the advertising space, over 800,000 active sellers promoted more than 200 million listings during the quarter, resulting in a 110% increase in related revenue to $65 million. EBay's first-party advertising offering resulted in an average visibility boost of 36% for sellers.
In payments, eBay intermediated $220 million of GMV for quarter-over-quarter growth of 61%.
eBay implemented a number of usability improvements, including a streamlined registration process and search functions powered by advancements in computer-vision technology.
eBay completed its previously announced acquisition of car-buying and selling classifieds site Motors.co.uk.
eBay repurchased 42 million shares for $1.5 billion during the quarter, leaving $5.7 billion remaining under its buyback authorization as of the end of March.
What management had to say
"We delivered a solid first quarter with revenue and EPS," stated eBay CEO Devin Wenig. "Our initiatives to create a next generation payment and advertising experience are on track, we saw healthy buyer growth and disciplined cost control, and we continue to simplify the buying process while remaining focused on seller's success."
Looking ahead
For the second quarter of 2019, eBay anticipates revenue between $2.64 billion and $2.69 billion, assuming organic constant-currency growth of 2% to 4%, with adjusted earnings per share of $0.61 to $0.63.
Finally, for the full year 2019, eBay raised its outlook to call for revenue between $10.83 billion and $10.93 billion, up from between $10.7 billion and $10.9 billion previously, good for organic currency-neutral growth of 2% to 3%. That should translate to adjusted earnings per share of $2.64 to $2.70, up $0.02 per share from both ends of eBay's old guidance range.
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Steve Symington has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends eBay. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
