EBay Inc. dropped after projecting earnings in the current quarter that narrowly missed analysts’ estimates, suggesting the e-commerce company is struggling to perform with a shrinking customer base.
Earnings per share will be 96 cents to $1.01 in the period ending in September, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Analysts estimated $1.02 per share.
The shares fell about 5% in after-market trading.
The San Jose, California-based company is struggling to remain relevant after losing US market share to industry leader Amazon.com Inc. and traditional retailers such as Walmart Inc. that have improved their online offerings.
Chief Executive Officer Jamie Iannone is trying to sell more luxury items such as watches and higher priced collectibles to boost revenue. Earlier this year, the company said it was cutting about 4% of its workforce and spending more on technology to improve online features.
Gross merchandise volume, the value of all goods sold on EBay, declined 2% to $18.2 billion in the quarter, but topped analysts’ average estimates. The company said it had 132 million active buyers in the quarter, down 4% from a year earlier.
One bright spot: advertising revenue of $367 million that topped analysts’ estimates of $330 million. EBay has been creating more advertising and payments products for its merchants to offset a decline in overall consumer spending on the platform, which reduces revenue from sales commissions.
Amazon is scheduled to report financial results Aug. 3.
(Updated with shares and context throughout.)
