eBay to set tone AH - QBID hmmm
Yeah billy late start but in this climate, ehat's to miss?? lol
EBay zigzags ahead of Q2 earnings
By Bambi Francisco, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 11:24 AM ET Jul 21, 2004
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- Will eBay be the latest Internet company to just match expectations?
Shares of eBay fell in and out of the plus column in Wednesday trading, as investors stayed cautiously optimistic ahead of the quarterly results after the bell from the world's largest online marketplace operator.
EBay (EBAY) fell modestly to $79.67 in recent trading, after reclaiming the $80-plus level earlier. Amazon.com (AMZN), which reports its quarterly results on Thursday, gave up ground as well.
Analysts don't expect eBay to report any big surprises, given the string of "in-line" performances they've seen during the course of the current earnings season.
Recall, Yahoo (YHOO) said that a strong market for online advertising helped the media company nearly double its profits in the second quarter. Yet shares of Yahoo traded down to $30.60 from $32.60 the next day because investors had already baked those results in. Netflix (NFLX) plunged on concerns that the company's second-quarter results revealed that its recent price hike has proved to be more challenging than expected and that marketing costs are rising in the face of increasing competition. Netflix continued to extend losses in Wednesday trading.
Last week, CNet (CNET) issued second-quarter results that just matched expectations, as well. Shares of CNet fell the following four consecutive days.
The stock rose modestly to $9.18 in recent trading, to extend Tuesday's gains. Many investors nibbled at Net shares in Tuesday's rebound, after shares were battered Monday.
Yet many are also waiting for the results from eBay and Amazon.com. See Net Sense: In search of the next meat market.
EBay's second-quarter report will be the big highlight of the week. Analysts expect eBay's profit to rise 71 percent to 27 cents a share from 16 cents in the year-ago period. Quarterly sales are expected to rise 51 percent to $769 million from $509 million last year. For the year, analysts expect eBay to earn $1.19 a share on sales of $3.2 billion. In the third quarter, analysts expect eBay to earn 27 cents per share on sales of $777 million.
EarthLink (ELNK) is set to report Thursday, as is DoubleClick (DCLK). Elsewhere in earnings news, FindWhat.com (FWHT) is set to report on July 26. FindWhat.com is expected to increase earnings to 15 cents per share from 12 cents per share in the comparable period last year. Quarterly sales are expected to grow 56 percent to $27 million, up from $18 million.
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Pennies not a zero sum game as much as some zero game.
