eBay Learns Lesson in Guidance Game

Call it the curse of the conservative.

A day after eBay said its pro forma earnings came in a mere penny below analyst expectations, the stock was trading down 18% at $84.92. In less than a day, eBay's stock gave up $12 billion in market cap, nearly all of the gains it steadily built up since last September.

Analysts, who had been falling all over themselves to sing the praises of eBay's growth prospects, if not its highflying stock price, were falling all over themselves to downgrade the stock Thursday. ...