eBay Watch: Earnings Preview, Whitman's Retirement Rumors

Earnings Week for eBay

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Having lost nearly 15% of its value YTD, eBay (EBAY) finally gets to report earnings this week. As regular readers will know, I expect eBay to beat nearly all analyst estimates and post 32% Y/Y revenue growth overall. This breaks down as 30% Y/Y growth for Marketplaces, 35% Y/Y growth for PayPal, and 68% Y/Y growth for Skype.

This time around, we are going into the Q4 earnings report at a 52-week low below $30 per share. It's amazing to think that just three months ago, we went into the Q3 earnings report at a 52-week high of above $40 per share. In fact, if we take the peak after-hours price of $44 following Q3 earnings on 17 October, eBay has lost an astounding 36% of its value in 3 months (compared to a 20% drop in Nasdaq over the same time period).

Having closed last week at $28.33, any guesses as to how the share price will finish this week?

Whitman to Retire "Within Weeks"

The Wall Street Journal today claims eBay CEO Meg Whitman is preparing to retire and may announce her departure within weeks. The report, quoting people familiar with the matter, said the situation "remains fluid" but that the 51-year-old Whitman had recently begun delegating more daily responsibilities and was completing succession plans. eBay declined to comment.

Whitman has been an emblematic leader for eBay but I also think the time has come for a change in leadership. The earlier this change comes, the better.