eBay CEO Wenig Discusses Earnings and Artificial Intelligence on CNBC
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NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of eBay (EBAY) - Get Report are higher by 10.18% to $29.74 on Thursday morning, after the company's better than expected second quarter earnings results were announced Wednesday.
eBay reported adjusted earnings of 43 cents per share, a 2% increase from last year, surpassing analysts' estimates of 42 cents per share. Revenue also increased 7% year over year to $2.23 billion beating, analysts' estimates of $2.17 billion.
CEO of the online commerce giant, Devin Wenig, joined CNBC''s "Squawk on the Street" today to discuss the report, the current state of eBay, and advancing into new technological spheres.
"We want to be an enduring technology leader, and a disrupter. We want to focus on building a foundation and differentiating what we do. We're starting to accelerate growth in the business, so that plan is starting to take route. I wouldn't say we've turned a corner, but we've made progress," Wenig said, pleased with the company's current standing.
Moreover, the company remains committed to how it will continue to allocate capital and reward shareholders.
"We're disciplined about the way we allocate capital, one of the great strengths of this business is it's got high free cash flow, and high return on equity. If we have excess capital we have said we will return it to shareholders," Wenig said.
Wenig, who took over as the company's CEO only one year ago stated that he hopes to run eBay for the next 10 years, and that further technological strides would play an intricate role in his long-term goal.
"Artificial intelligence is the next platform revolution, as is virtual and assisted reality, and we are planting the seeds right now to ensure that eBay is not only relevant but a leader/disrupter in artificial intelligence," Wenig explained.
Wenig went onto say the continued development in this technology will make for the ultimate consumer experience, and that eBay tends to be a winner in that field.
Separately, TheStreet Ratings rates eBay as "Hold" with a ratings score of "C." The primary factors that have impacted TheStreet Ratings are mixed - some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks.
The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its solid stock price performance, growth in earnings per share and revenue growth. However, as a counter to these strengths, TheStreet Ratings also finds weaknesses including unimpressive growth in net income, weak operating cash flow and generally higher debt management risk.
TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author.
You can view the full analysis from the report here: EBAY