EBay will face analysts for the first time since PayPal spinoff Getty Images EBay faces analysts for the first time since announcing the PayPal spinoffEBay Inc. is set to report third-quarter earnings after the market close on Wednesday, just two weeks after breaking up with its payment processing arm, PayPal. The San Jose-based company late last month said it would spin off its $7 billion mobile-payments processing division into an independent public company in 2015, increasing both companies’ agility amid rapidly intensifying competition in their respective marketplaces. When eBay EBAY, +0.26% holds its first conference call since the announced split, analysts will be looking for hints as to how future eBay plans to operate -- from M&A and stock buyback strategies to longer-term financial outlooks. However, its coming earnings report has been somewhat overshadowed by the broader PayPal-eBay split news, and some analysts say that may deter eBay from updating its full-year outlook. Here’s what to expect: Earnings: EBay reported adjusted earnings of $868 million, or 69 cents a share, last quarter, topping average analyst estimates in a FactSet poll by a penny. This quarter, analysts are expecting non-GAAP earnings per share to decline slightly to 67 cents, which is at the higher range of eBay’s own expectation between 65 cents and 67 cents a share. “Given the recent change of heart on the spin-out, we may see that the September quarter is lackluster,” said BGC Partners analyst Colin Gillis in a recent note. “We do not expect the company to miss guidance, but we also do not expect upside results or an increase in the full year outlook.” Revenue: In the second quarter, eBay reported a 14% increase in total revenue to $3.9 billion. Its legacy marketplace division grew 10% year-over-year to $2 billion and gained 3.5 million active users, however the core Marketplaces platform saw a slowdown on gross merchandise value. The company in July lowered its sales estimates for the quarter ended Sept. 30, predicting a shortfall after it faced a massive cyber breach earlier in the year that affected some 145 million of its customers. It now predicts revenue in the range of $4.3 billion to $4.4 billion. Analysts on average are calling for third-quarter revenue of $4.37 billion. Stock reaction: EBay’s shares have been on a roller-coaster ride in 2014, ranging from a closing high above $59 in March, to as low as $48.25 in June, after eBay admitted to the cyber breach. Its shares jumped 7.5% on Sept. 30, after announcing a split from PayPal. Shares are down 7.8% in the year through Tuesday’s close, while the S&P 500 is up 1.6%. What to watch for: Analysts are mostly bullish on eBay but foresee near-term challenges. In a poll of 42 analysts conducted by FactSet, eBay averaged a $60.81 price target. The analyst group averages an overweight rating on eBay, although a few issued downgrades following the PayPal news. In a recent note to clients, Raymond James analyst Aaron Kessler, citing data from ChannelAdvisor, said eBay seems to be recovering from the data breach and disadvantages related to a change in the Google search algorithm. According to the data, eBay in September posted its first increase in year-over-year same-store sales since the June data breach. However, eBay is facing increasing competition in the crowded e-commerce space. While analysts are calling for a long-term growth rate on eBay of 12.1%, they are forecasting a much more bullish growth rate of 42% on rival Amazon.com AMZN, +0.61% set to report earnings on Oct. 23. link