EBay Surprises Street With Solid Report, Stock Up After Hours

E-commerce giant eBay (EBAY) beat Wall Street expectations Wednesday with a solid earnings report, powered by growth in PayPal, its core marketplaces unit and the sale of 70% of Web-calling service Skype. The results, which were helped by a better-than-expected holiday shopping season, are a nice boost for a company that has taken a beating lately from rival Amazon.com -- as well as skeptical analysts.