PayPal performance drives eBay's 4th quarter

eBay beat Wall Street's expectations, reporting a net income of $585 million, or 44 cents per share, for the fourth quarter, a 9 percent jump over the same quarter a year ago. Revenue for the quarter was $2.4 billion, up 16 percent increase from a year ago. Analysts had expected earnings of 40 cents per share on sales of $2.29 billion. (Statement - PDF)

For the full year, eBay reported net income of $2.1 billion, or $1.58 per share, on sales of $8.7 billion. Analysts had been expecting an eps of $1.54 on sales of $8.65 billion.

The company said revenue growth was driven by "exceptional performance" by PayPal and "excellent growth" by StubHub. The payments unit saw year-over-year revenue growth of 28 percent and net total payment volume increase 34 percent.

Read more of "eBay beats for Q4, 2009; credits PayPal's "exceptional performance" at ZDNet's Between the Lines.