EBay holiday quarter revenue rises 3.1 percent

EBay Inc reported a 3.1 percent rise in quarterly revenue for the holiday period, offering a bright spot for investors as the company's revamped online marketplace attracted more buyers and helped sell more products.

Ebay has been revamping its platform to help it compete better with bigger e-commerce rival Amazon.com Inc as well as traditional retailers.

Shares of eBay were up 7.5 percent at $32.49 in extended trading on Wednesday.

EBay, which spun off its main growth engine PayPal Holdings Inc in 2015, has revamped its platform to offer a bigger selection of products and brands.

The company now also requires sellers to give more details on items to attract younger shoppers and has been cutting listing costs.

The company said its gross merchandise volume, or the total value of all goods sold on its sites, rose 2.2 percent to $22.34 billion in the quarter.

The company's net income rose to $5.94 billion, or $5.30 per share, in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, from $477 million, or 39 cents per share, a year earlier.

The boost in net income was driven by a non-cash $4.6 billion income tax benefit related to a legal structure realignment, mostly impacting its international entities.

Excluding one-time items, eBay earned 54 cents per share, in-line with estimates.

Revenue rose to $2.40 billion from $2.32 billion, in line with the average analysts' estimate of $2.40 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The company forecast first-quarter adjusted profit of 46-48 cents per share and revenue of $2.17 billion-$2.21 billion.

Analysts on average were expecting a profit of 50 cents per share and revenue of $2.21 billion.

The company also forecast full-year adjusted profit of $1.98-$2.03 per share, missing estimates of $2.06 per share, and revenue of $9.3 billion-$9.5 billion, compared with estimates of $9.36 billion.