April 18 (Bloomberg) -- EBay Inc., the world's largest online auction company, said first-quarter profit climbed 52 percent as it raised fees and held more auctions overseas. The company boosted its earnings and sales forecast for the year.

Net income surged to $377.2 million, or 27 cents a share, San Jose, California-based EBay said today in a statement. Excluding some expenses, it earned 33 cents, 3 cents more than analysts' estimates. Revenue rose 27 percent to $1.77 billion.

Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman last year more than doubled fees for merchants selling goods at fixed prices to reduce clutter on its site. A higher percentage of listings are leading to sales as a result. Revenue from its PayPal payment division surged 31 percent while sales at its Skype Internet phone unit more than doubled.

``They're still the gorilla,'' said Rachel Wakefield, portfolio manager for Coldstream Capital Management in Portland, Oregon, who helps oversee more than $1 billion including EBay shares. ``I just don't see anywhere else the sellers can go in spite of the price hike.''

Full-year profit will be as much as $1.34 a share, 5 cents higher than its forecast in January. Revenue will be as much as $7.45 billion, EBay said. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had estimated profit of $1.27 on revenue of $7.33 billion.

Shares Gain

EBay shares rose 95 cents, or 2.8 percent, to $35.40 at 6:50 p.m. in trading following the release of earnings. Earlier, the shares fell 75 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $34.45 at 4 p.m. in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading.

Overseas revenue climbed 38 percent on demand in Western Europe, outpacing an 18 percent gain in the U.S. and helping lower the company's tax rate. A weaker dollar boosted earnings by 2 cents a share, Chief Financial Officer Robert Swan said in an interview today.

``We've continued to try to expand our international footprint,'' said Swan.

Excluding compensation and amortization expenses, analysts estimated that EBay would earn an average of 30 cents a share on revenue of $1.72 billion.

On that basis, the company in January forecast profit of 28 cents to 30 cents a share on sales of as much as $1.72 billion.

EBay earned $248.3 million, or 17 cents a share, a year earlier.

Second Quarter

Second-quarter profit will be 31 cents to 33 cents a share, excluding some expenses, with revenue reaching as much as $1.8 billion, EBay said. Analysts had estimated profit of 30 cents on revenue of $1.75 billion.

EBay offers goods for sale via auctions or for fixed prices. It makes money on listing fees and sales commissions.

Auction revenue per listing rose 20 percent from a year earlier, helped by the fee increase, after a higher percentage of the site's visitors made purchases, EBay said. The company will continue to cut clutter on the site to make it easier for buyers to find items, Whitman said on a conference call today.

``We need to make changes to the site, but we have to be very careful how we introduce those changes,'' Whitman told analysts. ``We can't risk alienating the huge base of users we have.''

Yahoo Partnership

Yahoo! Inc., owner of the most-visited U.S. Web site, said yesterday that the two companies had expanded an accord that combines EBay's PayPal payment service with Yahoo's search ads. About 2,500 merchants are using the program, which puts a shopping-cart icon into Yahoo ads for merchants that support PayPal.

``EBay generates about 3 percent of revenue from advertising,'' said Scott Devitt, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus & Co., in an interview before the release of earnings today. ``Our expectation is over the next two years that could double to 6 percent.''

During the quarter, EBay repurchased about 10 million shares for $333 million and reiterated that it may buy back an additional $2 billion by January 2009.

Auction revenue rose 23 percent to $1.25 billion while PayPal sales increased 31 percent to $439.3 million. EBay users posted 588 million new listings in the first quarter, down from 610 million listings in the fourth quarter and up from 575 million a year earlier.

Skype revenue doubled to $78.5 million. The unit turned its first profit in the quarter, Swan said on the call.

To contact the reporter on this story: Danny King in Los Angeles at dking19@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: April 18, 2007 19:00 EDT