EBay's revenue exceeded expectations; the company has improved forecast

(Reuters) - Online retailer eBay Inc (NASDAQ: EBAY) reported a quarterly revenue exceeded expectations and improved its outlook for the current year, helped by the company's efforts to modernize its platform online trading.
Shares of eBay were up 8 percent in after-hours trading on Wednesday, when the company's board of directors also approved the increase in the share buyback program to $ 2.5 billion.
The company, which in July last year separated service PayPal, is the main driver of growth, focused on small business products, while enhancing the range of products offered.
Gross sales, or the total amount of all goods sold through the company's websites increased by 4 percent to $ 20.9 billion in the second quarter, which ended June 30 due to good demand in the United States.
The number of active buyers on eBay rose by 4 percent to 164 million. EBay raised its forecast for the current fiscal year, expecting revenue of $ 8,85-8,95 billion, instead of the previously projected $ 8,6- $ 8.8 billion and adjusted earnings from continuing operations to be between $ 1,85- $ 1 90 per share, instead of $ 1,82- $ 1,87 per share. For the third quarter, the company expects revenue to be $ 2,16-2,19 billion and adjusted earnings will be in the range of 42-44 cents per share.
Interviewed by Reuters, analysts on average expected revenue of $ 2.14 billion and earnings of 44 cents per share.
 EBay net profit for the second quarter increased to $ 435 million, or 38 cents per share, from $ 83 million, or 7 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.
Excluding one-off balance sheet items, eBay earned 43 cents per share, 1 cent more than analysts expected. Revenue rose 5.7 percent to $ 2.23 billion, beating analysts' expectations of $ 2.17 billion.
 (Arunima Banerjee, Anna George Tharakan)