Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) is recently up 13 cents to $26.88 in pre-open trading.

• YHOO is expected to report EPS on 10/16.
  
• YHOO October option implied volatility of 47 is above its 26-week average of 35 according to Track Data, suggesting larger risk.

eBay (NASDAQS: EBAY) closed at $39.18.

• EBAY is expected to report EPS on 10/17.
  
• Goldman Sachs CO said on 9/26: "Raising estimates due to continued revenue/listing improvements."
  
• EBAY October at the money straddle is priced at $3.05. EBAY October option implied volatility of 37 is above its 26-week average of 33 according to Track Data, indicating slightly larger risk.

Daily options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

When eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) bought Skype last year, the company's CEO, Meg Whitman, argued that the $2.6 billion purchase made sense because of synergies. Most importantly, the estimation that eBay activity would increase as buyers and sellers could communicate via Skype.

But according to Breakingviews, Skype has "failed to live up to" this estimation. As a result, the synergies between Sykpe and eBay remain largely unnoticed or nonexistent.

Breakingviews makes an interesting point -- Skype would be an unbelievably useful tool for social networking websites. Both MySpace and Facebook are going to have huge money behind them in the next few years. MySpace, with the support of News Corp (NYSE: NWS), has potential as a buyer. However, Facebook is the better bet. With the company allegedly preparing for an IPO, Facebook's renegade founder Mark Zuckerburg will soon have the capital to acquire Skype if he so desires.

eBay and Skype don't really have any legitimate synergies. Auction activity hasn't been increasing due to the "Skype safety" that Whitman advocated at the time of purchase. But Skype remains a very valuable company, especially to a service that could actually integrate Skype effectively such as Facebook or MySpace.

EBay Inc's (NASDAQ: EBAY) announcement of another quarter of weak core listings, particularly in the United States and Germany, is leading to a new launch of the auction leader's webpage in the fall.

However, despite the need to reorganize its weak core product and get listings growing again, eBay continues to grow revenue, earnings and, especially, free cash flow. Better conversion rates and higher average selling prices (ASPs) are offsetting the weakness in listings.

This ability for eBay to grow these important metrics during a product transition demonstrates how powerful its platform is. Generating advertising revenue is another source of big revenue generation that is very much in its early stages of growth.

Paypal continues to be an outstanding business and a big contributor to cash generation. Skype, however, is beginning to roll over as activations are below target. While demonstrating strong initial growth, new initiatives need to be put in place to get this business model where it needs to be.

Meg Whitman, eBay's CEO, said the company is a social commerce business targeting people's innate desire to connect. It appears eBay has to improve its platform, but in the interim, it continues to grow ASPs and conversions. Not too many companies have had the ability to do that over time.

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) announced second quarter results not too long ago and easily beat estimates. Sales were strong across all business segments.

Soon the webcast will begin and I'll be right here liveblogging the event with Meg Whitman and company. I want to hear what eBay has to say about the lower listings growth.

You can listen yourself to the webcast or just stay here and remember to refresh your page.

4:59 pm: Listening to violin music and waiting for the welcomes and the disclaimers that are bound to follow before we get to the real interesting stuff.

5:01 pm: OK, the webcast is officially starting late. I'll try to refresh, maybe it's me.

5:03 pm: And we're starting! Meg Whitman, Bob Swan and Bill Cobb. Disclaimers galore now. Checking eBay's stock price, down 0.9%.

5:05 pm: Meg is speaking, saying the quarter was great and giving some highlights. She sounds relaxed and calm, the best I've heard her in the past year.

DealBook reports that a somewhat surprising cast of characters is arriving at the annual Allen & Co. Sun Valley, media investment conference.

Of all the investment conferences I know, due to its beautiful setting, leading players, and inevitable deal doing, this is the one I most regret not being able to attend. Regrettably, BloggingStocks is not sending me there. (Although to be fair, I never asked because I didn't know about it until today.) However, I can join everyone else in the world and follow along with those who are fortunate enough to attend.

Here's the list of some of the notable characters who have arrived so far:

You probably wouldn't believe just how much I think about eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY). You could say I'm obsessed with the company and you'd be right but it's more than just a fixation for me. It's as if eBay has taken up a part of my very being. I spend several hours a day thinking about ways to improve that company. People think I hate eBay because I express disdain for the current management profile over there. I don't hate eBay. I dislike the way it's being run, all the while maintaining that eBay is my baby.

There are some wild and outlandish things that I think eBay could do in pursuit of reestablishing its growth cycle. You see, like it or not, eBay is slowing down. Personally I'm not surprised by that but I think this stalling phase has come upon eBay much too early. Yes, eBay is stalling way too early ... early by a decade.

Does eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) still have the image of a popular and friendly place to sell and buy everything from cars to beanie babies to cell phones to wrapping paper? The sheer amount of stuff on eBay for sale (from junky coffee cups to Hummers) still makes the company's website exceedingly attractive to millions of Americans, as well as millions of other consumers and sellers across the globe. But not all has been rosy for the world's largest online auction house in recent years. Rising fees, growing customer dissatisfaction, and an exodus of certain sellers all have been highly publicized and have given eBay a few large black eyes. The auction website keeps on churning though, and listings seem to be as plentiful as ever. Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) even announced that is would discontinue its Yahoo! Auctions website soon. My guess? All auction customers were using eBay instead.

For a "newbie," trouncing around eBay looking for things can be a somewhat daunting experience. Does this make it likely that a transaction may not take place? After all, there are hundreds of Nintendo Wii accessories on eBay right this second -- what makes one better than the other? Are customers shopping on price alone, or opting to not shop at all? The auction juggernaut is reaching middle age, and it seems the stagnant strategy that was once darling to its customers and visitors is getting an overhaul. It's time for that midlife-crisis Corvette to spruce up its image, yes? What can eBay do in the next twelve months to grow beyond its past as an "online auction?" Meg Whitman, eBay's CEO, has a cryptic answer for that one.

A recent point Meg tried to make is that the company she leads needs to provide an easier experience when buying products from its auctions and make inroads (and off-ramps) to the online marketplace seem more like a physical shopping experience. Remember, eBay does not make money from browsers and lookers, but from transactions and listings. Anything that ups the number of transactions (which drives more listings) is a good thing for eBay and its investors. With that, eBay CEO Meg Whitman recently said "'Our user experience has always been fantastic, but it didn't keep up, in my view, as well as it should have ... you will see more changes to eBay's buyer experience in the next 12 months than you probably have seen in the past three or four years.'' Let's hope so.

eBay(NASDAQ:EBAY) volatility & share price are flat as Meg Whitman has been eBay for nine years. eBay is expected to report EPS in mid July. Goldman has a Buy rating with a $43 price target on eBay. Meg Whitman joined eBay in 1988. Years ago Whitman's said she would leave after eight to ten years. Meg Whitman has an estimated net worth of $1.2 billion according to Forbes, much of it in eBay stock. eBay's share price has underperformed Yahoo Inc.(NYSE:YHOO) over the last four years. eBay over all option implied volatility of 33 is near its 26-week average according to Track Data, suggesting flat risk.

Bristol-Myers(NYSE:BMY) implied volatility Elevated prior to a judge's ruling. BMY is recently trading at $31.92 in pre-open trading, above its close of $30.31. Dow Jones reported "US Judge rejects bid by Apotex to invalidate Plavix patent." BMY received priority review for investigational oncology treatment Ixabepilone (treatment designed to inhibit the growth or development of cancer cells). BMY over all option implied volatility of 26 is above its 26-week average of 23 according to Track Data, indicating larger risk.

Option volume leaders today are: Yahoo (NASDAQ-:YHOO), United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAUA) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL).

Daily Option Update is provided by Stock Options Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

According to CNBC, the feud between Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) could get a lot worse. Last week, eBay pulled its ads from Google in an apparent protest to Google Checkout's (a leading Paypal competitor) "Let Freedom Ring" party being held the same week as the annual eBay Live event. Sensing that it had acted insensitively, Google canceled the party, but eBay still hasn't come back.

eBay CEO Meg Whitman claims that she's not worried about Google Checkout, and denies that pulling the ads was a coordinated act of retaliation, although she admits to being none too pleased with the timing of Google's party. eBay doesn't allow Google Checkout as a payment method on its site, and essentially said that eBay would crush Google Checkout the same way it crushed Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) and Amazon.com Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AMZN) efforts at building auction sites.

Whitman said, "We're defending ourselves aggressively with PayPal. That is one of our core businesses. We're not going to let that go away to someone who'd kind of like to be in the business."

She's right that it's one of eBay's core businesses, but I wonder how successfully eBay will be able to defend it. The fact that it had to take the step of not allowing it as a method of payment on the site indicates that eBay can't really crush it on the merits: Google Checkout is a formidable competitor only a year into its life. eBay investors might want to look out. With the auction site in a slump, competitors making inroads into Paypal could spell disaster for Whitman and company.

eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) CEO Meg Whitman last week outlined eBay's current three-prong approach for battling the phishers and scammers who continually prey on unsuspecting eBay users. Red Herring reported that this past Thursday at the VISA Security Summit in Washington, DC, Ms. Whitman made it known that in the continuing effort to restore basic user security to their site would remain proactive and reactive. What I found to be a startling contrast to former eBay attitude on the subject was Ms. Whitman's admission that in this continuing effort eBay could not go it alone, as evidenced by her request for involvement in the anti-fraud efforts by the filtering of e-mail by ISPs, something which is unlikely to happen.

The three-prong approach that eBay is implementing is focused on protecting eBay users from unwittingly divulging important personal and financial information to people who have no business obtaining such data. The plan involves a key fob that accesses randomly generated passwords, the blacklisting of known fraudulent websites, and a request that ISPs only forward e-mail from recognized domains. On their face the conjoined ideas sound legitimate but analysts remain highly skeptical as to their usefulness effectiveness and implementation.

Losses from e-mail phishing and other data diversion tactics topped $2.8 billion for 2006. Reports say that the three major targets are PayPal, eBay, and commercial banks. Gartner analyst Avivah Litan said that eBay is "at the center of this hurricane for fraudsters." While eBay is certainly not at fault for the continuing onslaught upon their membership, this writer maintains that it needs to be far more transparent about its problems, far more helpful to its members, and far more aggressive in the successful prosecution of the individuals who continue to pillage eBay membership.

Key fobs are for keys. Prisons are for scammers. Let's get with it eBay.

Volatility Index S&P 500 Options-VIX up 0.24 to 13.53

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE:AMD) calls (quoted in Pennies) busy on chatter of private equity cash infusion. AMD is recently up $0.46 to $13.87. AMD has been frequently subject to LBO chatter; today chatter is circulating that a friendly private equity-strategic partner could surface to make cash infusion. Speculation is that AMD could announce a deal similar to the deal Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ:SUNW) announced on 1/23/07, when it received a $700 million dollar private placement from KKR. AMD call option volume of 73,560 contracts compares to put volume of 9,747 contracts. AMD April option implied volatility of 41 is below its 26-week average of 45 according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price risks.

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) implied volatility is low. Meg Whitman enters ninth-year working as eBay CEO. EBAY is recently up $0.23 to $31.72. Meg Whitman has an estimated net worth of $1.2 billion according to Forbes, much of it in EBAY stock. Years ago, Whitman said she would leave EBAY after eight to ten years. Whitman joined EBAY in 1998. EBAY has a market cap of $43 billion. Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) has a market cap of $270 billion. EBAY overall option implied volatility of 34 is below its 26-week average of 37 according to Track Data, indicating decreasing risks.

Option volume leaders today are: SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ:SNDK), AtheroGenics Inc. (NASDAQ:AGIX), Halliburton Co. (NYSE:HAL) and Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM).

Note: The Daily Option Update is provided by Stock Options Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Well, you know me. When things look down, I tend to point to the positive aspects, and when things are great, I point to aspects that aren't that wonderful.

So kudos eBay. Indeed. I can't say I wasn't impressed with the financial results of the fourth quarter. I wasn't surprised either along with many of you who weren't; 70% of BloggingStocks readers who voted, thought eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) would beat estimates. Only 12% thought eBay would disappoint.

As analysts (and I) have expected, PayPal has been the crown jewel in eBay's earnings, with its revenues growing 37% in Q4. Market place wasn't bad either, growing 24%. Even Skype showed some more growth. International growth, listing growth and the share repurchase plan sure give investors more confidence too. I also liked eBay's continued listing mix shift. Meg Whitman, eBay's CEO, said eBay wants to concentrate on buyer rather than seller experience, and that's exactly what the shift is doing. Oh, hey, and raising guidance is always a good thing too.

Still, Skype isn't growing as fast as expected, definitely not fast enough to justify its hefty purchase price. As for market place, eBay's revenues were positively affected by two new game consoles offered this quarter and by a strong holiday season. Though an analyst asked, Bob Swan, eBay's CFO, couldn't put a number on how much these game consoles sales contributed to eBay's top line. So as I mentioned during the liveblog, I wonder how the results would have looked without these sales.

Two other things I would have liked differently. It's been a few quarters now that eBay benefits from a favorable exchange rate and a lower tax rate. Also, operating margins were lower this quarter. As for user metrics, I'm not that concerned about it, although several analysts do note lower active users being a concern.

So there you have it. Yes, eBay shares are gaining some 7% now (around 1:30 p.m. ET) to $32.12, and true, the day high was $33.80. But even at $33.80, eBay shares are down from their $44.64 52-week high, and are actually back to their November levels.

Last, despite my concerns, I like eBay and have confidence in its management.

Also check out some other earnings reports that we're following, and let us know what you're expecting.

The "Power of 3" is what CEO Meg Whitman calls eBay Inc's (NASDAQ: EBAY) three primary businesses -- marketplaces, payments and communications. Any way you slice it, the "Power of 3" is working.

• For 2006, $6 billion in revenue, up 31%
• Purchased $1.0 billion in stock and upping it to $2.0 billion -- eBay had never repurchased stock prior to July 2006
• eBay has 220 million users and Skype is now up to 171 million users, both growing nicely
• Other names that eBay owns, has an interest in or relationships with are doing well, such as Shopping.com, Craigslist and VeriSign

Of the many positives for eBay, the most important one is that growth is now re-accelerating, which will drive the stock higher. Historically, large growth companies perform best when the growth rate picks up. The company is guiding to 18% to 21% growth for 1Q07, which appears too conservative.

I wouldn't over-think this one, just buy it and put it away.

Oh no, here we go again. Melly covered the recent news from this morning about eBay Inc.'s (NASDAQ:EBAY) new fee increases, but I had to chime in with a perspective since the last time this happened, some eBay sellers seemed to go off the deep end.

Bill Cobb, President of eBay, has just sent out a mass email to eBay sellers with the information that more fee increases are coming. The last time this happened at the end of the summer in 2006, Sheldon Liber and I had quite a time with posts about eBay and some of the most salient reader comments I've yet seen came in about the various posts.

Well, here are now, with yet another set of fees about to hit eBay sellers at the end of January (details here). Will this cause another complete and utter outpouring of madness, disgust, and 'seller revolt' like what appeared to happen the last time around?

While that is not clear, expect the blogosphere, message boards, and just about every other interactive medium on the 'net to light up this week regarding the new fee increases. When is enough enough? I am not sure how to answer that, but the brand power eBay has apparently has given the company the confidence to know it can jack up fees regularly and still say in business quite well. That is, unless, sellers revolt -- and strongly.

After first talking Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:DLB) higher on the first segment of CNBC's MAD MONEY, Cramer said it is time to put away grudges on stocks. He thinks it's time to recommend eBay, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY).

He thinks even though it is run by Meg Whitman, has weak user trends, spent too much on Skype, and yada, yada, yada ...

Under $32.00 he likes it, and he said he can whip himself that it is up $9.00 from lows. He thinks it is still down 25% and now represents and "internet value stock." He said the bad news has been discounted into the shares. It trades under 26 times next year's earnings but growing at 21%.

He said Bear Stearns has it right. He thinks PayPal is still winning over Google's checkout. He likes the Shopping.com angle, and that eBay can now bring in new customers this way. He even went as far as to say that while he's been slamming Meg Whitman, that she has been wheeling & dealing, including a pact with Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO). He also likes the recent deal with Baidu.com that started in November.

He likes ratios, with no debt, and says the company has been hoarding cash, with $3.2B in the coffers. eBay closed down 2.7% at $31.30 in normal trading, but is up at $32.05 after the comments.

Do you think Cramer will auction off a dinner with himself like Warren Buffett did?