eBay earnings of interest to investors
Savvy investors will be watching eBay today as it is poised to report its third-quarter earnings. The online marketplace has predicted that profits will be slightly down on this period last year, prompting those looking to buy shares to prick up their ears.
Investors looking for a cheap buy in will no doubt have their eyes on both the online auction site and its payment system PayPal. While the San Jose-based company has been faltering slightly in the wake of other popular retail sites such as Craig’s List, PayPal continues to be the most used and safest payment system on the web.
eBay has also made a host of changes recently in an attempt to retain bulk sellers and entice passing buyers. Search engines have been modified to produce more specific results and the company no longer charges upfront fees to merchants.
In addition, the company has also been paying increasing attention to the popularity of mobile surfing and has released a number of applications for devices such as the Apple iPad and iPhone. With the craze for smart phones sweeping the world, the company is hoping to gain increased revenue through such easy-to-use fields.
Experts believe that eBay’s success in the global marketplace can be a good indicator of how other online auction sites will fare in the future. Thomson Reuters are predicting eBay to report a profit of 37 cents per share on $2.18 billion revenue for this year, compared to 27 cents on $2.24 billion last year.