eBay Beats; Q1 Revenue Up 29 Percent To $3.3B; Net Income Up 20 Percent

eBay just reported stronger than expected first quarter 2012 earnings today. Revenue increased 29% to $3.3 billion, compared to the same period of 2011. Non-GAAP earnings came in at $0.55 per diluted share. Analysts expected earnings of $0.52 per share on revenue of $3.15 billion. Net income came in at $570 million for the quarter.

“The first quarter was a strong start to the year for us with momentum continuing in our Marketplaces, PayPal and GSI Commerce businesses,” said eBay President and CEO John Donahoe. “We believe that innovation in retail today is technology driven, and consumers are embracing smarter, easier, better ways to shop. We are enabling commerce in this new retail environment, supporting and partnering with sellers of all sizes and giving consumers worldwide the ability to shop anytime, anywhere, for whatever they want.”

PayPal has a stronger quarter, ending the period with 109.8 million active registered accounts, a 12% increase over the first quarter of 2011. PayPal’s revenue increased 32% year over year to $1.3 billion. PayPal’s net total payment volume grew 24% year over year to $34 billion.

eBay’s core marketplaces business saw gross merchandise volume (GMV) excluding vehicles increase 12% year over year to $16 billion. Revenue increased 11 percent to $1.7 billion. Sold items increased 17% compared to the first quarter of 2011. U.S. GMV excluding vehicles increased 13% year over year and Fixed price GMV, which represented 64% of total GMV in the first quarter, grew 18% globally year over year. International GMV excluding vehicles increased 11% year over year to $10 billion.

And downloads of eBay’s suite of mobile apps surpassed 12 million in the first quarter and 78 million globally since the launch of mobile in the third quarter of 2008. eBay expects to generate $8 billion in mobile volume transacted in 2012, and PayPal expects $7 billion in mobile TPV in 2012.

The company’s GSI business saw $237 million in revenue for the first quarter and generated $715 million in global e-commerce (GeC) merchandise sales during the quarter. Same store sales grew 26% year over year.

eBay raised guidance for the year, expecting net revenues in the range of $13.8 billion to $14.1 billion with GAAP earnings per diluted share in the range of $1.91 – $1.96 and non-GAAP earnings per diluted share in the range of $2.30 – $2.35.

After a solid Q4, the first quarter of 2012 has actually been a busy one for eBay, especially with respect to PayPal. In terms of product, PayPal has been ramping up its payments options for large and small merchants. Over the past three months, the payments giant debuted an in-store payments platform for large retailers; PayPal Here, a card swiper that attaches to a mobile phone for small businesses; and hinted at a brand new PayPal wallet.

And there have been a number of leadership changes as well at the e-commerce company. After former president Scott Thompson departed for the CEO role at Yahoo, PayPal named David Marcus, the former CEO and founder of mobile payments startup Zong and PayPal Mobile VP, as President (PayPal acquired Zong last year for $240 million).

X.commerce CTO Neal Sample left eBay to join American Express and PayPal also recently lost product VP Sam Shrauger (to Yahoo) as well as Alyssa Cutright (to Square).

Earnings Call Notes:

John Donahoe: PayPal’s in-store payments product will be rolled out to additional retailers in 2012.