eBay growth slows (again)

eBay reported Q2 results on Wednesday night and once again I wondered why they didn't just refer us to the Q1 results.

Marketplace growth is slowing, PayPal is doing great and Skype is growing fast but decelerating rapidly.

The headline numbers look good with revenue growth of 20% and EPS growth of 25%. However if you take out the FX benefits, revenue growth was only 13%. Even worse, GMV growth was a mere 4%.

eBay is of course a victim of its own success - its ubiquity in the marketplace sector makes rapid growth hard to achieve.

The market took a dim view of eBay's latest figures - yesterday the stock dropped almost 14%!

At $24.20 eBay is on a 2008 pro forma PE of 14. Astoundingly low for eBay and surely the stock is good value at these levels?

One day the multiple contraction will end and then if the share price can grow with the EPS at 20% I will be a happy investor.

For the moment I will just have to be a patient one.