Another report is out with a negative assessment of eBay Marketplaces. SunTrust’s Bob Peck is expecting eBay to report a “lackluster” first quarter when it reports earnings next week.
And if it seems like everyone is picking on eBay, understand that eBay itself warned investors in January to expect things to get worse for Marketplaces before they got better after a disappointing fourth quarter where it saw year-over-year Marketplace growth of only 2 percent.
SunTrust Robinson Humphrey data shows continued weakness in auctions and sub-par growth in fixed price vs. the industry. “Further, FX (foreign exchange) has continued to trend down, which negatively impacts international growth as well as cross border trade (a hit to eBay and PayPal).”
Peck said Marketplaces traffic trends were more positive in in the first quarter compared to the fourth quarter, which could help improve the active buyer growth. However, he’s expecting slightly negative year-over-year growth for U.S. and International non-vehicle GMV.
He’s expecting eBay to update investors on the ongoing impact of Google SEO changes and password reset, with eBay now several quarters into spending on marketing and contra revenues to counteract their negative impact.
eBay reports earnings on Wednesday.
