EBay Inc. exceeded expectations with its financial results Wednesday but its shares fell 5.3% in after-hours trading after the company’s forecast for the holiday period came up short.
The e-commerce company posted third-quarter income from continuing operations of $283 million, or 43 cents a share, down from $605 million, or 86 cents a share, in the year-prior quarter. After adjusting for stock-compensation and other expenses, eBay
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earned 90 cents a share, up from 85 cents a share a year earlier and just ahead of the FactSet consensus, which called for 89 cents a share.
Revenue rose to $2.50 billion from $2.26 billion, while analysts were expecting $2.46 billion.
EBay reported gross merchandise volume (GMV) of $19.5 billion, down 10% from a year prior and down 12% when excluding foreign-exchange impacts. Analysts expected $19.1 billion in GMV, which measures the value of transactions completed on the platform.
One goal for eBay has been to increase its number of “high-value buyers” through efforts like authenticating handbags worth more than $500 and catering to “enthusiasts” in categories such as trading cards and sneakers.
The company continues to make progress with its managed-payments initiative as it looks to have greater control over the payments process on its platform. During the third quarter, eBay saw more than 90% of its global on-platform volume take place through its managed-payments offering, up from 71% in the second quarter. More than 18 million sellers have migrated over to managed payments.
The managed-payments efforts helped drive the sixth-straight quarter of double-digit growth in transaction revenue and eBay expects to complete the transition by the end of the year.
“We’re just getting started in terms of the opportunity of what we can do with commerce and payments together in a single flow and single experience,” Chief Executive Jamie Iannone said on the earnings call.
EBay’s Promoted Listings offering generated $207 million in revenue during the period, up 12% from a year earlier and up 9% when excluding currency impacts.
“We continue to purposely reduce third-party advertising in favor of Promoted Listings, which delivers superior performance and offer a better experience for both sellers and buyers,” Chief Financial Officer Stephen Priest said on the call.
For the fourth quarter, eBay expects $2.57 billion to $2.62 billion in revenue and 97 cents to $1.01 in adjusted earnings per share. The FactSet consensus calls for $2.65 billion in revenue and $1.00 in adjusted EPS.
Shares of eBay have risen 7.4% over the past three months as the S&P 500
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has gained 3.4%.
