Online auctioneer eBay’s first quarter results beat Wall Street forecasts and the company expressed confidence about its outlook.
The firm's profits more than doubled in the three-month period ending March 31st to $47.6 million on revenue of $245.1 million.
In the comparable period last year, eBay earned $21.1 million on revenue of $154.1 million.
"We feel really good," said Mr Rajiv Dutta, eBay's chief financial officer. "There's only a handful of companies that can grow (pro forma income) at 65 per cent and increase profits against a backdrop of a tough economic environment and a down market for Internet advertising."
EBay now expects to earn revenue of around $260 million for this quarter and just over $1 billion for the year.
Although year-over-year sales growth fell somewhat - to 59 per cent from 64 per cent in the previous quarter - chief executive Ms Meg Whitman says she is increasingly comfortable with her long-term goal of getting eBay's revenues to $3 billion a year by 2005.
EBay's success has come from its domination of the domestic Internet auction market and the steadily improving performance of its sites tailored for users in 26 other countries.
Even though eBay pulled out of Japan, the company's international revenue amounted to $53 million in the first quarter, nearly three times last year's total.
One of the few downsides in the report was a 32 per cent decline in advertising revenue from the previous quarter.
Analysts also expressed concern about a 17 per cent year-over-year drop in sales of services that enhance trading on the site.
PA