After Hours: eBay Gets A Lift Post-Earnings

Shares of eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY), the largest online auction site, are up more than 3% in the after-hours session after the company reported a fourth-quarter profit of 60 cents a share on revenue of $3.4 billion. The revenue number is a 35% increase from the year-earlier period. The company reported fourth quarter net income on a GAAP basis of $2.0 billion, or $1.51 per diluted share, and non-GAAP net income of $788.6 million, or $0.60 per diluted share, according to a statement.

Electronic payments platform continued to help eBay's bottom line. PayPal ended the quarter with 106.3 million active registered accounts, a 13% increase year over year, the company said in the statement. PayPal averaged 1 million new accounts per month last year.

The company generated $982 million of operating cash flow and $691 million of free cash flow during the fourth quarter and had cash and cash equivalents of $7.5 billion at the end of 2011 down from $7.8 billion at the end of 2010.

For the first quarter, eBay forecast GAAP earnings per diluted share in the range of $0.37 - $0.38 and non-GAAP earnings per diluted share in the range of $0.50 - $0.51 on revenue of $3.05-$3.15 billion. For all of 2012, eBay expects GAAP earnings per diluted share in the range of $1.76 - $1.81 and non-GAAP earnings per diluted share in the range of $2.25 - $2.30 on revenue of $13.7-$14 billion.

Analysts were expecting 54 cents per share on sales of $3.16 billion for the first quarter and EPS of $2.31 on revenue of $13.66 billion for all of 2012.