eBay Inc (NASDAQ: EBAY) stock rose over 3.3% on October 31st, 2018 (as of 10:45 AM GMT-4; Source: Google finance) after the company posted higher than earnings estimates for the third quarter of 2018. The company also began accepting Apple Pay, an easy, secure and private way to pay, as one of the first forms of payment in this new experience, with approximately 12% of iOS transactions made with Apple Pay to date.
In the third quarter, eBay completed the sale of its equity investment in Flipkart, representing net proceeds of nearly $1 billion. eBay also recently announced its intent to acquire Motors.co.uk, a leading UK-based classifieds site. Combining the inventory, customer relationships and traffic available on Gumtree UK, eBay Motors UK and Motors.co.uk is expected to help UK car dealers increase their leads and bring buyers more choice.
EBAY in the third quarter of FY 18 has reported the adjusted earnings per share of 56 cents, beating the analysts’ estimates for the adjusted earnings per share of 54 cents. The company had reported the adjusted revenue growth of 10 percent to $2.6 billion in the third quarter of FY 18, missing the analysts’ estimates for revenue of $2.7 billion. Gross merchandise volume, which measures the total value of items sold on eBay, was $22.7 billion for the quarter compared to the $23.2 billion analysts estimated.
In the third quarter, eBay grew active buyers by 4% across its platforms, for a total of 177 million global active buyers. Underlying total eBay Inc. performance, the Marketplace platforms delivered $2.1 billion of revenue and $21.5 billion of GMV. Marketplace revenue growth was 6% on an as-reported basis and 5% on an FX-Neutral basis, and GMV was up 5% on both an as-reported and FX-Neutral basis. StubHub drove revenue of $291 million, up 7% on both an as-reported and FX-Neutral basis, and GMV of $1.2 billion, up 7% on both an as-reported and FX-Neutral basis. Classifieds platforms delivered revenue of $254 million, up 8% on an as-reported basis and 11% on an FX-Neutral basis.
Moreover, the company repurchased approximately $1.0 billion of its common stock, or 29 million shares, in the third quarter of 2018. The company’s total repurchase authorization remaining as of September 30, 2018 was $4.7 billion.
EBAY expects fourth quarter earnings of $0.67 to $0.69 per share on revenue of $2.85 billion to $2.89 billion which is higher than analyst expectations.