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By Joseph Galante Jan. 20 (Bloomberg) — EBay Inc. , the most-visited U.S. e-commerce site, reported fourth-quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates, boosted by the holiday shopping season and the sale of its Skype Internet-calling business. Net income rose to $1.35 billion, or $1.02 a share, from $367.2 million, or 29 cents, a year ago, the San Jose, California-based company said today in a statement. Excluding some items, profit was 44 cents a share. Analysts had estimated 40 cents on average in a survey by Bloomberg. EBay’s stock rose 69 percent last year, driven by growth in its PayPal payment processing unit and improvements to its main e-commerce site. Chief Executive Officer John Donahoe also has made it easier for retailers to put excess inventory on EBay. He expects the company to keep pace with the broader e-commerce market in 2010 after slumping the past two years. “It’s good to see them show a reacceleration of the business,” said Aaron Kessler , an analyst at Kaufman Brothers LP in San Francisco. He recommends the stock, which he doesn’t own. EBay rose 70 cents, or 3.2 percent, to $22.93 in late trading after the announcement. The shares had fallen $1.03, or 4.4 percent, to $22.23 in regular Nasdaq Stock Market trading. Fourth-quarter sales climbed 16 percent to $2.37 billion, compared with the $2.3 billion predicted by analysts. First Quarter Revenue in the first quarter will be $2.1 billion to $2.2 billion, EBay said. Profit will be 39 cents to 41 cents a share, excluding some items. Analysts had anticipated sales of $2.16 billion and profit of 40 cents a share. For the full year, EBay forecast revenue of $8.8 billion to $9.1 billion, representing growth of as much as 12 percent — excluding the impact of Skype. Earnings will be $1.63 to $1.68 a share, the company said. Analysts had projected sales of $9 billion and profit of $1.61. Total online retail spending for the November-to-December holiday season rose 4 percent to $29.1 billion from the year earlier, according to Reston, Virginia-based research firm ComScore Inc. That contrasts with a 1.1 percent gain in total retail holiday sales, according to the National Retail Federation. Forrester Research Inc. predicts that online sales in the U.S. will expand 13 percent this year and 10 percent in 2011. “They’ve benefited from both a much healthier global economy and a pretty strong holiday shopping season for online retail,” said Scott Kessler , an equity analyst at Standard & Poor’s in New York. He recommends buying the shares, which he doesn’t own himself. Gross Volume Gross merchandise volume, the value of all goods that users sold on EBay sites, rose 24 percent to $14.2 billion last quarter. Investors watch gross merchandise volume to gauge the strength of EBay’s businesses, according to Benchmark Co. The Marketplaces unit, which includes the main e-commerce site, ticket reseller StubHub and the classified advertising service Kijiji, has typically accounted for most of EBay’s revenue . EBay’s Payments business, made up of PayPal and BillMeLater, saw total payment volume rise 34 percent to $21.4 billion. Revenue at PayPal and BillMeLater rose 28 percent to $795.6 million. EBay expects PayPal’s sales to reach $5 billion by 2011, making the unit its biggest moneymaker. PayPal estimates that it controls about 10 percent of online payments worldwide. Skype, the biggest provider of international calling services, contributed $112 million in revenue through the midpoint of the quarter. On Nov. 19, the business was sold to a group of investors led by private-equity firm Silver Lake for about $2 billion. EBay retained a 30 percent stake in Skype. To contact the reporter on this story: Joseph Galante in San Francisco at jgalante3@bloomberg.net