10-19-2005, 10:14 PM
Quote:eBay Inc. the world's largest online auction site, on Wednesday posted a 40 percent rise in quarterly net profit and raised its outlook, but shares fell 6 percent as investors were looking for more.
The results, excluding one-time items, were within the range of Wall Street expectations, as growth was fueled by its U.S. and German auction business and expansion of its online payment business. EBay raised its outlook for the rest of 2005 and 2006, but also within investor expectations.
Germany is the largest auction market outside eBay's home market. Together, the United States and Germany are responsible for roughly three-quarters of the company's auction revenues.
Quarterly revenue from its PayPal online payments business totaled $247.1 million, growing 44 percent on the year.
Despite the reacceleration, investor fear over the maturation of eBay's U.S. and German businesses still lingers.
Registered users at the end of the third quarter totaled 168.1 million, a 35 percent increase from a year ago.
full article: http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/051019/ebay_earns.html?.v=3