eBay Runs Into Wall Street’s Expectations

eBay became the latest Internet bellwether to run afoul of Wall Street’s expectations after the close on Wednesday.

eBay’s second-quarter earnings of 29 cents a share beat analyst estimates by two cents, and revenues of $773.4 million topped $769.4 million forecasts. But eBay said third-quarter earnings will come in at 25 cents a share, two cents below estimates, and revenues of $770 million would miss estimates by $8 million. eBay’s full-year guidance was also a little light of forecasts.

Shares of eBay fell 5% after hours, and Amazon , which reports Thursday night, lost 3.5%. Microsoft also reports tomorrow night.

Also after the close, Qualcomm , Sierra Wireless and F5 beat estimates and raised guidance. Siebel and Internet Security met estimates, and eResearch and Digital River warned. Cirrus , Photon and Citrix topped estimates.

Stocks tumbled during the day after gapping up to start the day on Microsoft’s plan to share the wealth, as concerns about an economic slowdown and rising interest rates remained front and center.

The Nasdaq plunged 42 to 1874, the S&P 500 fell 14 to 1093, and the Dow tumbled 102 to 10,046. Volume rose to 1.68 billion shares on the NYSE, and 2.1 billion on the Nasdaq. Decliners led 25-7 on the NYSE, and 23-7 on the Nasdaq. Downside volume was 84% on the NYSE, and 81% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 118-39 on the NYSE, and 50-154 on the Nasdaq.

A few stocks reporting earnings bucked the trend. Roxio , Ericsson , Sanmina , E*Trade , WebEx and Plantronics all gained on better than expected results.

But traders were otherwise in a mood to sell. Sun , Lucent , Motorola , Texas Instruments , Seagate , Microchip , StorageTek , Cymer , Tellabs , Tollgrade , Nextel and Mercury Interactive all fell on their earnings reports.