EBay Inc.’s share price down, posts an increase in second-quarter net profit, but projects downbeat third-quarter sales

EBay Inc., which is currently the largest online marketplace, made an official statement yesterday, posting its second-quarter results. The company also presented its third-quarter sales projection that fell short of initial analysts estimates as it is trying to lure more customers after a data breach it went through and some changes implemented in the search engine of Google Inc.

The company, however, managed to overcome the difficulties over the second financial quarter and reported a 5.6% increase in its net profit thanks to its PayPal payments division. According to eBays statement, the second-quarter net income rose from 640 million dollars over the same period a year ago to 676 million dollars.

“The story for the quarter was the data breach and how much of a distraction that was,” said BGC Partners analyst Colin Gillis, cited by the Wall Street Journal. He also added: “But eBay appears to have managed through it.”

According to the companys statement, eBay Inc. expects its revenue over the third fiscal quarter to be between 4.3 and 4.4 billion dollars. The company also shared that the profit before certain items is expected to be between 65 and 67 cents per share. This projection is a bit lower than the initial analysts forecasts of 4.42-billion-dollar sales and profit of 70 cents apiece.

Mr. John Donahoe, who is the current Chief Executive Officer of eBay Inc., has been putting his efforts on transforming the company to a marketplace for a variety of retail transactions. Mr. Donahoe was also focused on making the PayPal unit profitable, especially considering the fact that the online payments segment is considered a sector of rapid growth and fierce competition.

The companys Chief Executive Officer said in an interview, which was cited by the Wall Street Journal: “We got a couple body blows.” He added: “We think that [eBay] is going to be one of the winners in e-commerce and well have strong double digit growth. Thats our goal.”

The Chief Executive Officer of eBay Inc. also revealed some of the companys long-term plans, saying that eBay is to seek expansion and a growing number of customers in fast-growing economies in Latin America.

EBay Inc. was 0.23% down to close at 50.70 dollars per share yesterday, marking a one-year change of -10.76%. According to the information published on CNN Money, the 36 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for eBay Inc. have a median target of 60.00, with a high estimate of 68.00 and a low estimate of 54.00. The median estimate represents a +18.34% increase from the last price of 50.70.