Late Wednesday, eBay (EBAY: news, chart, profile) said it earned $200 million, or 30 cents per share, in the first quarter, compared with a profit of $104 million, or 16 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, eBay earned 31 cents per share, a nickel above the consensus estimate of 26 cents.
"The growth is across the board," said Rajiv Dutta, eBay's chief financial officer, in an interview.
The online marketplace operator also posted sales of $756 million, up 59 percent from a year before, and 5 percent better than the $717 million consensus estimate.
The fastest-growing segment: eBay's international business. International revenue shot up 87 percent to $257 million. Of the revenue, however, $18 million came from beneficial effects of a depreciating dollar. Still, excluding the dollar benefit, international revenue grew 74 percent.
International activity now accounts for 34 percent of eBay's business. Payment transactions grew 67 percent to $155 million. The U.S. business grew 39 percent.
EBay even topped the most optimistic projections of 28 cents per share on sales of $735 million.
Total goods transactions on eBay hit $8 billion, up 51 percent from a year before. The amount of goods bought through eBay's fixed-price service was $2.2 billion, or 28 percent of gross merchandise sold.
Shares of eBay rose 1 percent to $74.61 in regular trading Wednesday.
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