eBay Inc Earnings Dragged Down By Cyber-Attack

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eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) released its latest earnings results this week, and they weren’t quite as good as Wall Street was expecting. Analysts generally chalk it up to the cyber-attack that happened in May, as eBay noted that Marketplace activity hasn’t yet returned to the level it was at before the attack. Analysts point to the positive result in eBay’s Payments division as a bright spot, however.

eBay Marketplace business impacted by cyber-attack

In a report dated July 17, 2014, FBN Securities analyst Shebly Seyrafi maintained the firm’s Sector Perform rating and $60 per share price target on eBay. The analyst said it’s clear that the online auction company was negatively impacted by the cyber-attack, which significantly disrupted Marketplace business. Excluding foreign exchange rates, the segment’s revenue increased only 6% year over year. That’s nearly half of the increase two quarters previously, and eBay reported that many of its usual buyers “haven’t returned to their previous activity levels” yet.

Another big factor in eBay’s Marketplace revenue was a change in Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s search engine algorithm. That change pushed eBay’s links further down in search results for various products.

eBay sees positive Payments results

The good thing about eBay’s second quarter report was the Payments division, which posted 20% year over year growth. Total payment volume was $55 billion, an increase of 29% and 25% higher than consensus estimates. Merchant Services total payment volume was $40 billion, an increase of 35% Seyrafi called this result “impressive” because David Marcus, who had been heading up Payments, defected to Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) during the second quarter.

Another trouble area for eBay was its Enterprise segment, however, which increased 3% to $267 million. Also revenue from the U.S. is slowing, as it increased by only 9%.

eBay’s second and third quarters

Overall, eBay reported second quarter revenue of $4.37 billion, a 13% increase year over year but slightly under the $4.39 billion consensus estimate. Core growth excluding foreign exchange rates was closer to 11%, however, as Seyrafi noted a positive benefit from exchange and also the company’s acquisition of Braintree.

Non-GAAP earnings per share were 69 cents, slightly ahead of the 68 cent per share estimate because taxes were less than expected. The non-GAAP operating margin fell to 24.4% during the second quarter, from 26.9% in the previous quarter and 26.3% in the same quarter a year ago. eBay noted higher expenses because of the cyber-attack and more investment in the site, which was offset by PayPal’s increasing transaction margin and better operating expenditure leverage in other places.

For the third quarter, eBay guided for revenue to be between $4.3 billion and $4.4 billion, slightly ahead of the consensus estimate of $4.2 billion. The company guided for non-GAAP earnings of between 65 cents and 67 cents per share. Consensus estimates suggest 71 cents per share.

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