Kinahan Sees 4% Q1 Earnings Move For eBay Inc.

EBay Inc. EBAY shares will move a bit more than 4 percent on its first-quarter results expected later Wednesday, JJ Kinahan told Benzinga. Kinahan, chief strategist for TD AMeritrades, made the prediction based on recent options trading activity. "Since their last earnings they haven't done much," Kinahan noted. EBay was little changed recently at $56.77; during the past three months the shares are off 0.6 percent. Wall Street analysts on average expect flat first-quarter earnings of $0.70 cents a share, on revenue growth of about 4 percent to $4.42 billion. Bowing to pressure from activist investor Carl Icahn, eBay last year decided to split its Paypal unit into a separately traded public company. The spin-off, expected later this year, will include an operating agreement between the two businesses that will preserve the current status quo in which about 80 percent of eBay's merchandise sales are routed through Paypal. The agreement also includes a non-compete clause. EBay may also soon offer an update plans for its eBay Enterprise unit. Earlier this year, eBay said it would explore options for the unit, including a possible sale or initial public offering. Brianna Valleskey contributed to this report.