eBay and Gannett Earnings
Ebay, and newspaper publisher Gannett were the latest entries in this weeks parade of earnings announcements. Both companies reported earnings after close of market on Wednesday. The news was good for eBay, not so good for Gannett.
Ebay:
Ebay, the worlds largest online auctioneer (Nasdaq: EBAY), had an impressive quarter. The company beat analyst expectations with revenue gains for the fourth consecutive time. For Q2, eBay reported a 50% rise in net income with earnings of $375.8m (27c/share) up from $250 (17c/share) for the same period a year ago.
Earnings, excluding amortization and stock-based compensation, were 34 cents a share. Analysts consensus expectations using the same metrics were for earnings of 32 cents.
In its retail businesses, revenue from auctions and fixed-price sales were up 26% to $1.29 billion. Listings volume dropped 6.2% to 559 million suggesting eBay’s efforts to improve the quality of auctions, and increase their likelihood of closing, were working. The total value of items sold on eBay increased 12 percent to $14.5 billion.
Paypal, Ebay’s online payment unit, also continued to perform well. PayPal had revenue of $454 million, up 34%. Total processed transactions rose 32 percent to $11.7 billion. $4.92b of that was from businesses other than EBay, a 57% increase.
For the coming quarter, eBay forecast earnings in the range of 31c to 33 cents a share on sales of $1.78b. For the full year ahead, eBay raised its guidance by 4cents a share from $1.34 to $1.38 a share.
All in all, it was a good quarter for eBay.
More detailed press coverage on Ebay’s finances can be found at:
Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Marketwatch
eBay Investor Relations Presentation
Gannett Co (NYSE:GCI):
For Gannett, the nation’s largest newspaper publisher the news was not as rosy. Amidst falling sales for the entire newspaper industry, Gannett reported Q2 income with an 18% rise in profits but the gains were the result of property sales.
Gannett, which publishes USA Today and more than 80 other papers, reported net income $365.7m, up fro $310.5m from the same period last year. Excluding one time gains of $73.8m from the sale of several papers, Gannet’s earnings were $289.9m ($1.24/share).
Global advertising revenue was down 5.3%. In the U.S. newspaper ad revenue was down 7.7%.
While the numbers were not good, Gannett did beat analyst consensus expectations. Excluding one-time gains, the consensus was for earnings of $1.22/share.
More detailed press coverage on Gannett’s finances can be found at:
