Start here if you're new
what it is
EBay matches 134 million buyers with sellers across 190 markets and takes a cut of each transaction.
how it gets paid
Last year Ebay made $11.1B in revenue. Marketplace transaction revenue was the main engine at $8.6B, or 78% of sales.
why it's growing
Revenue grew 7.9% last year. Said third-quarter 2025 revenue rose 9% vs. prior year and adjusted EPS rose 14%.
what just happened
EBay's was a clean beat, with revenue at $8.1B and EPS at $3.20, both ahead of expectations.
At a glance
B++ balance sheet — above average — nothing keeping you up at night
65/100 earnings predictability — reasonably predictable
17.1x trailing p/e — the market's not buying it — or you found a deal
1.6% dividend yield — cash in your pocket every quarter
19.5% return on capital — nothing to write home about
xvary composite: 61/100 — average
What they do
eBay matches 134 million buyers with sellers across 190 markets and takes a cut of each transaction.
eBay wins because you go there for weird inventory, used goods, and enthusiast categories that big-box retail does poorly. It had 134 million active buyers and $75.0 billion of gross merchandise volume in 2024, which is GMV → total stuff sold on the platform → proof buyers and sellers still show up. Your switching cost is habit: buyers know where to hunt, and sellers know where the demand already lives.
How they make money
$11.1B
annual revenue · their business grew +7.9% last year
Marketplace transaction revenue
$8.6B
+8.0%
Advertising and promoted listings
$1.5B
+12.0%
Payments and financial services
$0.6B
+6.0%
Other marketplace services
$0.4B
+4.0%
The products that matter
auction and fixed-price marketplace
Marketplace Platform
$11.1B revenue · 100% of sales
this is the whole business. it generated all $11.1B of revenue last year, so every growth debate starts here and ends here.
100% of revenue
seller ads and visibility tools
Promoted Listings
inside the $11.1B revenue base
disclosure on this page is thin, but the logic is not. ebay needs more dollars from the same marketplace, and seller advertising is one of the cleaner ways to do that.
monetization lever
payments and advertising layer
Payments & Advertising
supports $2.8B quarterly revenue
these tools matter because they raise revenue per transaction on a platform that produced $2.8B in the latest quarter. The page does not break them out further, so we're not pretending it does.
take-rate support
Key numbers
$75.0B
annual GMV
GMV → total merchandise sold → so what: eBay still has serious scale even after years of people declaring it irrelevant.
20.5%
operating margin
Operating margin → profit from the core business → so what: eBay turns one-fifth of sales into operating profit, which is strong for a marketplace.
19.5%
return on capital
Return on capital → profit on the money invested in the business → so what: this is well above the level most companies manage.
17.1x
trailing P/E
P/E → price versus yearly earnings → so what: you are not paying a meme-stock multiple for a business with 20.6% net margins.
Financial health
B++
strength
- balance sheet grade B++ — above average financial health
- risk rank 3 — safer than 50% of stocks
- price stability 65 / 100
- long-term debt $5.0B (11% of capital)
- net profit margin 20.6% — keeps 21 cents of every dollar in revenue
- return on equity 33% — $0.33 profit for every $1 investors have put in
B++ — functional but not a standout on the balance sheet.
Total return vs. market
You invested $10,000 in EBAY 3 years ago → it's now worth $21,300.
The index would have given you $14,770.
source: institutional data · total return
What just happened
beat estimates
EBay's was a clean beat, with revenue at $8.1B and EPS at $3.20, both ahead of expectations.
Value Line said third-quarter 2025 revenue rose 9% vs. prior year and adjusted EPS rose 14%. Consensus also showed the last reported quarter at $1.41 versus a $1.00 estimate, a 41.0% surprise.
$2.6B
revenue
$3.20
eps
71.5%
gross margin
the number that mattered
The key number was 71.5% gross margin because margin this high means modest revenue growth can still drive strong earnings growth.
-
we’ve updated our coverage of ebay to use adjusted earnings per share starting in 2025.as part of this transition, we’ve revised our reported earnings figures for the first two quarters, as well as our future earnings estimates. we believe that moving to use the non-gaap figures will allow a more accurate assessment of the company’s investment prospects.
-
the company turned in a good performance for the third quarter of 2025.
-
both the top and bottom lines came in ahead of our expectations.
-
revenues rose 9% vs. prior year, while adjusted earnings per share advanced 14%.the disparity between the two figures was driven by a reduction in the share count during the intervening time, with net income having grown nearly in lockstep with revenues.
-
looking ahead, we have raised our full-year revenue outlook owing to the strong quarterly performance.in november, ebay announced the offering of $1 billion in new senior unsecured notes. $600 million of the new debt is due in 2029, with the remainder due in 2035. of the proceeds from the offering, $575 million was earmarked for paying down existing debt, with the rest intended for general corporate purposes. ebay has acquired the social marketplace platform tise.
source: company earnings report, 2026
Get this snapshot in your inbox
This page, delivered free — plus weekly updates when the numbers change. plain english, no spam.
weekly updates
earnings alerts
plain english
no spam
What could go wrong
ebay's risk is not mystery. It's concentration. One marketplace produced all $11.1B of revenue, while the stock already sits above this page's listed $84 midpoint.
med
the whole business still comes back to one marketplace
There is no second engine on this page to offset weakness if the core marketplace slows. The same focus that supports margins also concentrates the risk.
100% of reported revenue comes from the same platform, so a slowdown hits the whole story at once.
med
the stock already trades above the page's listed midpoint
At $93.03, the shares sit above the listed $84 midpoint. That does not make the stock broken. It does mean steadiness alone may not be enough.
If earnings stay around the current $5.85 level without a better growth case, upside gets harder to justify.
med
institutional flow is a split decision leaning negative
Third-quarter 2025 showed 538 buyers versus 555 sellers. That's not panic. It's also not broad-based sponsorship.
When a stock sits near the high end of its $40–$101 range, softer sponsorship makes pullbacks less forgiving.
med
debt is manageable, but management is still refinancing and buying time
ebay issued $1B of senior unsecured notes and used $575M to pay down existing debt. That's normal balance-sheet work, but it also tells you capital allocation still matters to the equity story.
With $5.0B of long-term debt at 11% of capital, the balance sheet is fine. It just isn't irrelevant.
At $93.03, you're paying above the page's listed $84 midpoint for a company where all $11.1B of revenue still leads back to one marketplace.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
earnings
next quarterly report
Watch whether quarterly revenue keeps holding around the recent $2.8B level while margins stay near the current 22.0% net level. That's the cleanest test of whether the mature-marketplace story is still intact.
metric
gross merchandise volume and active buyer trends
Revenue can look stable for a while. Buyer activity tells you earlier whether the marketplace is actually deepening or just monetizing the same base harder.
trend
advertising and take-rate progress
Promoted listings and related tools matter because mature platforms need more dollars per transaction, not just more transactions.
risk
institutional sponsorship
538 buyers versus 555 sellers is close, but negative. If that stays negative while the stock remains near the high end of its $40–$101 range, sentiment can turn faster than the fundamentals do.
Analyst rankings
short-term outlook
average
momentum score 3 — in human-speak, analysts do not see a strong short-term edge either way.
risk profile
average
stability score 3 — typical risk profile. Not especially safe, not especially wild.
chart momentum
average
technical score 3 — the chart is acting like a normal large-cap stock, not sending a dramatic signal.
earnings predictability
65 / 100
good enough that surprises should be manageable, low enough that you should not treat guidance as law.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
538 buyers vs. 555 sellers in 3q2025. total institutional holdings: 0.4B shares.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
$54
$114
$93
current price
$84
target midpoint · 10% from current · 3-5yr high: $150 (+60% · 14% ann'l return)
Want the deeper analysis?
The full deep dive: dcf model, scenario analysis, competitive moat breakdown, and quarterly tracking — everything on this page, taken further.
see plans from $5/moThe deep dive