Online auction Web site eBay (EBAY) reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings late Wednesday. The company said it earned $559 million, or 42 cents per share, in the fourth quarter. Excluding one-time items, earnings were 52 cents per share, compared with 44 cents per share in the same period a year earlier.
Sales rose more than 5% to $2.5 billion.
Wall Street analysts were looking for earnings of 47 cents and sales of $2.49 billion.
EBay said it expects to earn 44 cents to 46 cents per share in the current quarter, excluding items, in line with analysts' consensus estimate of 45 cents per share. The company also forecast sales between $2.4 billion and $2.5 billion; analysts are looking for $2.42 billion in revenue.
The company also projected better-than-expected earnings and revenue for 2011. Earnings will be between $1.90 per share and $1.95 per share, excluding items, eBay said, with sales as high as $10.6 billion. The Street has eBay earning $1.86 per share on $10.2 billion in revenue.
Revenue at eBay's PayPal division jumped 22% to $971 million in the most recent quarter. EBay benefited from a strong holiday shopping season -- earlier this month, research company comScore said that retail e-commerce spending for the November to December 2010 holiday season was a record $32.6 billion, a 12% jump from 2009.
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