eBay Inc (EBAY) Posts Big GAAP Losses On 366 Percent Tax Rate

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eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) released the results from its most recently completed quarter, posting earnings of 70 cents per share, excluding items, on $4.26 billion in revenue. On average, analysts had been expecting the online auction company to post earnings of 67 cents per share on $4.23 billion in revenue for the quarter. On a GAAP basis, eBay posted losses of $1.82 per share, compared to income of 51 cents a share in the same quarter a year ago.

Breaking down eBay’s earnings

eBay Inc reported that total company enabled commerce volume (ECV) rose 24%, climbing to $58 billion during the quarter. Mobile ECV rose 70% to $11 billion and made up 19% of volume. The company said mobile downloads passed 240 million and pulled in 6.5 million new customers. In addition, eBay said cross-border trade increased 24% and made up $13 billion or 22% of total ECV.

The company said total payment volume for PayPal rose 27%. Volume for Merchant Services increased 32%, while on-eBay volume rose 15%. Global on-eBay penetration rose to 78.9% in the quarter. eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY)’s Marketplaces reported 12% growth in gross merchandise volume. In the U.S., volume rose 11%, while internationally, increased 13%. Marketplaces revenue increased to $2.2 billion, and it gained 4.7 million new buyers, ending the March quarter with 145 million active buyers, a 14% increase.

Enterprise gross merchandise sales increased 16%, whiel revenues increased to $269 million for the division.

Where eBay got slammed

The reason for the massive GAAP loss was because eBay took a tax charge to repatriate foreign cash, increasing its domestic cash by $6 billion. The company bought back $1.8 billion worth of stock or about 33.1 million shares during the quarter as well. That tax charge was about $3 billion.  eBay reported a massive effective tax rate of 366% because of the tax repatriation.

eBay provides guidance

Looking ahead, eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) expects to see net revenues between $4.325 billion and $4.425 billion. The company expects GAAP earnings per diluted share to be between 51 cents and 53 cents for the current quarter and non-GAAP earnings per share to be between 67 cents and 69 cents.

For the full year, eBay projects net revenues of between $18 billion and $18.5 billion and GAAP earnings of between 4 cents per share and 9 cents per share. The company believes non-GAAP earnings per share will be between $2.95 and $3 a share.

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