4Q Profits Triple At EBay4Q Profits Triple At EBay

SAN FRANCISCO (AP)--Online auction leader eBay Inc. said its fourth-quarter profit more than tripled from the previous year as the Internet pioneer continued to avoid the economy's doldrums.

The San Jose-based company earned $87 million, or 28 cents per share, up from $25.9 million, or 9 cents per share, at the same time in the prior year.

The results, released after the stock market closed Thursday, surpassed the consensus estimate of 24 cents per share among analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call.

The company's fourth-quarter revenue totaled $413.9 million, an 89 percent increase from $219.3 million in the previous year. Analysts' consensus estimate had been $387 million.

"The eBay engine is firing on all cylinders right now," said analyst Shawn Milne of SoundView Technology.

EBay's shares dropped $2.25 to close at $71.25 on the Nasdaq Stock Market, then bounced back by 91 cents in extended trading.

Heartened by its strong showing, eBay management raised estimates for the first quarter of 2003, as well as the entire year.

The company expects to post first-quarter earnings of 30 cents per share excluding accounting items unrelated to its ongoing business. Analysts' consensus estimate had been 25 cents. For all of 2003, eBay projected earnings of $1.27 per share, excluding the nonbusiness accounting items, well above analysts' estimate of $1.17.

In a sign of the Web site's broadening appeal, eBay's 61.7 million registered users paid a total of $4.6 billion for the ever-expanding array of merchandise sold on the site during the fourth quarter.

That volume was 68% higher than the previous year, an indication that eBay fared better than most E-tailers during the holiday shopping season.

Online spending during the 2002 holiday season rose by 24%, excluding travel-related purchases, according to a survey by Nielsen/NetRatings, Goldman Sachs and Harris Interactive.

For all of 2002, eBay earned $249.9 million, or 85 cents per share, on revenue of $1.21 billion. In 2001, eBay earned $90.4 million, or 32 cents per share, on revenue of $748.8 million.