eBay Q1 2013: Income up 19%, and the future is PayPal

eBay reported its first quarter 2013 results today, with income increasing 19 percent to $677 million on revenue of $3.748 billion.

Q1 was solid for eBay, pretty much in line with expectations, although revenue was down a little from analyst expectations. The stock, however, is down almost 3 percent in after-hours trading, as the company’s outlook for Q2 is in the 61 cents to 63 cents per share range. Analysts were hoping for 66 cents.

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The future of eBay is mobile payments, however, and for investors willing to overlook some short-term pain, there may be some long-term gain as PayPal transaction volume increased a strong 21 percent in the last quarter, and PayPal merchant services jumped 25 percent.

By the numbers:

• PayPal users: up 5 million to 128 million
• PayPal at point of sale: now in almost 20,000 retail locations in the U.S.
• eBay marketplace customers: up 3.9 million to 116 million
• eBay transaction volume: up 13 percent to $18 billion
• Total “enabled commerce volume”: up 19 percent to $49 billion

Analysts had expected 62 cents a share of revenue, with total revenue of $3.77 billion, although the “whisper number” was 64 cents per share. eBay missed that number, hitting $0.63 per diluted share.

eBay had beaten its earnings whisper numbers in each of the last four quarters.

“We had a strong first quarter, with accelerating user growth across both Marketplaces and PayPal,” CEO John Donahoe said in a statement. “Technology is creating a commerce revolution, and we are in the forefront with strong mobile leadership and a focus on helping retailers and brands engage consumers anytime, anywhere.”

eBay’s original raison d’etre, auctions, is decreasing in importance to the company as net revenue, while still growing, was up comparatively less, 13 percent, and gross merchandising volume — the value of goods being sold via eBay Marketplaces — was up by the same number. In addition, GSI Commerce, eBay’s e-commerce solutions for enterprise division, had increased sales of 13 percent.

PayPal accounted for 41 percent of eBay revenue, a number that has been growing in the past, and the company expects it to continue to rise.

eBay has big plans for the future.

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In a note to investors in March, eBay says it plans to enable $300 billion of global commerce by 2015, up from $175 billion in 2012, and expects revenues to grow by 50 percent by 2015 as PayPal continues to be the growth driver.

photo credit: OnInnovation via photopin cc