EBay Outbids Earnings Estimates
eBay says it will carry out a 2-for-1 stock split on the heels of a 66% increase in first-quarter net earnings over the same period last year. Coming in at $8 million, or 5 cents per share, the earnings results beat analysts' estimates of 3 cents per share.
Analysts speculate that the news could help boost recently beleaguered Internet stocks.
Still, most of eBay's earnings came from interest and investments, rather than operations, the company acknowledges. It had interest and investment income of $10.4 million vs. $452,000 from operations during the first period.
The company says net revenues amounted to $85.8 million for the quarter, up 100% from the same period last year. "In the first quarter of 2000, eBay achieved unprecedented financial and operational success," says president and CEO Meg Whitman. "The company is firing on all cylinders as it expands to become a truly global trading platform."
In other first-quarter results, eBay's online net revenues reached $77.3 million, a 127% increase over the $34 million in the first quarter of 1999. Gross merchandise sales stood at $1.15 billion in gross merchandise sales, surpassing the $1 billion mark for the first time and increasing 113% over the first quarter of 1999. Registered users reached 12.6 million by the quarter's end, an increase of 230%. The auction site added 2.6 million new users in the quarter, more than in any other quarter so far.
In other developments, eBay says Wells Fargo Bank has acquired a 35% stake in BillPoint, the auction site's recently launched credit card payment service.
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