For most investors, how much a stock's price changes over time is important. This factor can impact your investment portfolio as well as help you compare investment results across sectors and industries.
The fear of missing out, or FOMO, also plays a factor in investing, especially with particular tech giants, as well as popular consumer-facing stocks.
What if you'd invested in eBay (EBAY) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to EBAY for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?
eBay's Business In-Depth
With that in mind, let's take a look at eBay's main business drivers.
eBay operates an online shopping platform which provides sellers the tools to build online store formats, making it easier for customers to browse by brands.
Over the years, the company has evolved from a relatively small community user-based auction site to a worldwide commercial behemoth store.
The company is well positioned in the online marketplace space. Since the separation from PayPal in 2015, its marketplace business continues to be the key growth driver for eBay.
eBay’s structured data initiatives to better understand, organize and leverage inventory on its site for delivering more personalized user experiences continues to drive gross merchandise volume (GMV) growth.
In addition to the marketplace business, the company’s advertising business has been doing well. Its focus on growing promoted listing fees (as part of the first-party advertising business) should continue to expand the company’s growth.
Total net revenues were $10.2 billion in 2024. The company's operating region comprises the United States and international regions, which include the U.K., China, Germany and Rest of the World.
In 2024, the company generated $5.2 billion in revenues from the United States (51% of net revenues), which were up 3.2% from 2023. International regions generated $5.04 billion in revenues in 2024 (49% of net revenues). More precisely, eBay generated $1.5 billion, $1.16 billion, $972 million and $1.39 billion of revenues from the U.K., China, Germany and Rest of the World, respectively.
Bottom Line
While anyone can invest, building a lucrative investment portfolio takes research, patience, and a little bit of risk. If you had invested in eBay ten years ago, you're probably feeling pretty good about your investment today.
A $1000 investment made in August 2015 would be worth $3,262.45, or a gain of 226.24%, as of August 4, 2025, according to our calculations. This return excludes dividends but includes price appreciation.
In comparison, the S&P 500's gained 196.51% and the price of gold went up 196.34% over the same time frame.
Analysts are anticipating more upside for EBAY.
EBAY is benefiting from strong advertising growth, solid GMV expansion, and better-than-expected second-quarter results. Focus category GMV rose over 10%, outpacing core categories, with all focus areas accelerating year over year. Collectibles led the growth, as trading card GMV rose for the 10th straight quarter, driven by continued strength in sports and collectible card games. Active buyers reached 134 million, up 1% YoY, while enthusiast buyers held steady at 16 million. The use of Gen AI in ad listings has increased quality scores, rankings, and GMV. However, operating expenses rose 14.1%, free cash flow turned negative, and cash and short-term investments declined to $3.75 billion against $5 billion in long-term debt. Despite pressures, strong third-quarter guidance and $759M in returns highlight EBAY's resilience.
The stock is up 20.14% over the past four weeks, and no earnings estimate has gone lower in the past two months, compared to 6 higher, for fiscal 2025. The consensus estimate has moved up as well.
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eBay Inc. (EBAY): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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