EBay second-quarter revenue climbs 23 percent

Visitors chat next to the Ebay logo at the CeBIT computer fair in Hanover March 2, 2011.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - EBay Inc posted better-than-expected quarterly results on Wednesday, and the operator of the world's largest online marketplace stuck to its full-year forecasts as it avoided a hit from Europe's economic woes.

EBay said second-quarter revenue jumped 23 percent to $3.4 billion, while profit climbed 16 percent to $730 million, or 56 cents per share. That topped Wall Street forecasts.

EBay's third-quarter revenue and profit forecasts were slightly below analyst expectations. But the e-commerce giant stuck with its full-year guidance from earlier this year.

EBay shares have slipped in recent weeks on concern a weak European economy might dent buying and selling on the company's online marketplace -- and lucrative cross-border transactions in particular.

However, eBay said its Marketplaces business generated its strongest organic growth since 2006 - and highlighted "strong growth" in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.

"The results were very good," said Gil Luria, an analyst at Wedbush Securities. "I don't think anybody in their wildest dreams thought Marketplaces would be growing this fast."

Shares of eBay rose more than 5 percent to $42.54 in extended trading after the results.

(Reporting By Alistair Barr)