EBay’s results solid, but E-Commerce giant’s forecast for the rest of year falls short of expectations

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch)

EBay Inc. on Wednesday reported a third-quarter profit that rose 15% from the same period a year ago,but the e-commerce giant’s shares fell in after-hours trading due to a weaker-than-expected forecast for the remainder of the year

EBay reported a profit of $689 million, or 53 cents a share, on revenue of $3.9 billion, compared with earnings of $597 million, or 45 cents a share, on $3.4 billion in sales in the year-ago quarter

Excluding one-time items, eBay would have earned 64 cents a share

The results were consistent with the estimates of analysts surveyed by FactSet, who forecast eBay to earn 63 cents a share on revenue of $3.9 billion

However, eBay’s shares fell as much as 5% in after-hours trading, as the company forecast a fourth-quarter profit, excluding one-time items, of 79 cents to 81 cents a share, on revenue in a range of $4.5 billion to $4.6 billion

That outlook fell short of analysts’ expectations for a profit of 83 cents a share on $4.64 billion in sales

In a statement, eBay said its forecast assumes that the company’s recently announced $800 million acquisition of payments-technology company Braintree will close during the quarter

It also took some of the shine off of what was a generally upbeat third quarter for eBay

The company said its main Marketplaces business saw revenue rise 12%, to $2 billion, and ad 3.9 million active users in the quarter

Gross marketplace volume, not including automobiles, was up 12%, to $18 billion

EBay’s PayPal payments business also put in a good performance, with revenue rising 19%, to $1.6 million

Total payment volume of PayPal transactions climbed 25% in the quarter, to $44 billion

PayPal also added 5 million active registered accounts during the quarter, to give it 137 million such account.