Ohtani HR Ball Boosts eBay Sports Collectibles Arm, but Shares Plunge

EBay’s auction of Shohei Ohtani’s 50^th home run ball of the just-concluded MLB season helped the retail site chalk up a strong quarter in collectibles, helping the business beat analysts’ expectations for the third quarter.

For the period ended Sept. 30, eBay posted revenue of $2.58 billion and net income per share of $1.19, both slightly better than Wall Street expectations. The only problem is management’s outlook for the current fourth quarter was tempered by consumers pulling back on spending due to the effects of hurricane season and the U.S. elections next week. The company said it sees fourth quarter revenue between $2.53 and $2.59 billion, below existing expectations at the low end. That disappointed traders, who hammered eBay shares down in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange Thursday. EBay stock opened about $6 lower, which then fell as much as 10% against Wednesday’s closing price of $62.63 before recovering slightly into midday.

Yet collectibles remain a bright spot for eBay. The company says it sees Goldin, the sports collectibles specialist acquired in April, adding 30 basis points of growth (or 0.003 of a percentage point) to gross sales in the quarter, projecting it as the quickest growing arm of operations. That implies Goldin will sell $57.3 million more goods than it did in the third quarter, since eBay says it probably will sell $19.1 billion in gross value items.

Goldin’s highest-profile sale in the most recent quarter was Ohtani’s home run ball that marked him as baseball’s first 50/50 player (50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a season.) The nearly $4.4 million gavel price was the highest ever paid for a baseball, though not enough to place it in the top 10 most expensive sports collectibles.

“Our recent acquisition of Goldin is opening up exciting opportunities in the collectibles world,” eBay CEO Jamie Iannone said in a call with analysts Wednesday evening. “Auctions for truly one-of-a-kind items like [the Ohtani ball] can generate a lot of awareness for our platform where hobbyists can shop for everything ranging from low ASP ungraded trading cards to some of the world’s most valuable collectible items.”

The company said it is seeing double-digit growth in the trading cards business. In addition to buying Goldin, the company has beefed up other services for card collectors in recent months, including a partnership with the Steve Cohen-owned PSA card grading business.