Shares of eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) stayed green on Friday. The stock has gained 32% year-to-date. The ecommerce leader delivered revenue and earnings growth for the third quarter of 2024, benefiting from progress in several growth initiatives even in a dynamic macro environment. Here are a few factors that helped drive growth for the company in Q3:
Revenue and earnings growth
eBay’s revenue increased 3% year-over-year to $2.6 billion in Q3 2024. Adjusted EPS from continuing operations increased 16% to $1.19. Gross merchandise volume (GMV) increased 2% on a reported basis and 1% on an FX-neutral basis to $18.3 billion.
Focus Categories and geo-specific investments
eBay’s Focus Categories are a key driver of growth. In Q3, focus category GMV grew around 5%, helped by momentum across sections like collectibles, refurbished, and luxury fashion.
As mentioned on its quarterly conference call, eBay saw strong growth in collectibles, with items like sports trading cards and collectible card games driving a double-digit increase in trading GMV. Another area of interest is fashion. A large number of users make use of eBay’s platform to purchase and sell pre-loved items in this category.
eBay’s focus on geo-specific investments is yielding benefits. The initiatives it has rolled out in Germany and the improvements it has made in the UK to drive growth in pre-owned apparel have helped in driving customer satisfaction and a pickup in active sellers.
eBay is specifically focusing on consumer-to-consumer, or C2C sellers, as they bring unique inventory to its marketplace and are less price-sensitive compared to business-to-consumer, or B2C, sellers. On its call, the company stated that C2C sellers accelerate e-commerce as roughly 60% of their GMV comes from used and refurbished items compared to 40% for the marketplace overall.
Strength in advertising
In the third quarter, eBay’s total advertising revenue grew 11% to $408 million and represented over 2.2% penetration of GMV. First-party ads grew over 14% to $396 million. Nearly 3.2 million sellers adopted a single ad product during the quarter.
Outlook
In the fourth quarter of 2024, eBay expects the operating environment to remain challenging due to economic headwinds and one-off factors such as the US elections and a shorter holiday shopping period.
The company forecasts revenues to range between $2.53-2.59 billion, representing a YoY growth of down 1% to up 1% on an FX-neutral basis. GAAP EPS is expected to be $0.96-1.01 while adjusted EPS is expected to be $1.17-1.22 in Q4.
