UPDATE: Sotheby's Q2 Profit Misses Street View

Sotheby's

reported weaker-than-expected second-quarter earnings. The New York-based company posted a quarterly profit of $77.6 million, or $1.11 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $91.7 million, or $1.33 per share. The latest quarter results were impacted by $10.2 million in after-tax special charges. Excluding non-recurring items, Sotheby's adjusted earnings per share slipped to $1.26 from $1.33, due to the rise in Sotheby's effective tax rate. Its sales surged to $335.8 million versus $304.9 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.43 per share on revenue of $345.63 million. Auction commission margin declined to 15.2% from 15.9%. Sotheby's net auction sales rose 24% to $2.7 billion in the first half, while auction commission revenue surged 18% to $403.8 million. Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Bill Ruprecht said, "The fact that 26% of our buyers in the first half of the year were first-time clients shows we are engaging with a new generation of collectors, and that's exciting. We're looking forward to building on the successes of these six months with a number of exceptional sales this fall and with our new eBay partnership that will showcase our New York auctions to an unrivaled global online audience of millions of potentially new collectors." Sotheby's shares fell 0.72% to close at $40.69 yesterday.