San Jose, California - Online auction house eBay posted a whopping 52 per cent increase in profits to 377 million dollars for first-quarter 2007, surpassing analyst forecasts and representing earnings per share of 27 cents. The surge was anchored primarily to strong overseas sales and robust performance by its PayPal online transaction segment, with domestic figures less stellar.
Also contributing to the healthy figures were strong performances from subsidiaries including price-comparison site shopping.com and online telephony provider Skype.
"This first quarter of 2007 was a very strong one for the company," said eBay president and CEO Meg Whitman in a statement released late Wednesday following close of share trading. "The strength of our core businesses, as well as the significant traction we are beginning to see across our newer businesses, helped us deliver great results across the board."
The company earned 377.2 million dollars or 27 cents per share for January-March 2007, up from 248.3 million dollars or 17 cents per share for the same period 2006.
Excluding charges unrelated to ongoing operations the company earned 460.5 dollars or 33 cents a share, up from 342.9 million dollars or 24 cents per share in Q1 2006.
Net revenues for the company's eBay Marketplaces sites were a combined 1.25 billion dollars, up 23 per cent, while net revenues for PayPal were up 31 per cent to 439 million dollars.
Operating income was 468 million dollars, an increase of 45 per cent year-over-year which represented 26.5 per cent of net revenues.
The company purchased 333 million dollars' worth of stock during the quarter as part of a buyback programme and had additionally authorized the further repurchase of up to 2 billion dollars' worth of shares until 2009.
At the end of the quarter the company had some 233.4 million registered users and 82.9 million active users. For full-year 2007 the company forecast consolidated net revenues to range from 7.2 billion to 7.45 billion dollars.
