Monday, December 1, 2014

Thanksgiving Sales Up - Good for Ebay and Amazon

Ebay and Amazon are trading higher after good sales data came in from Thanksgiving and Black Friday.  Most retail analysts estimate that there will be a 4.0 to 4.5% growth for holiday sales this year, with ecommerce making up for a dip in store traffic on Black Friday.

Ebay closed trading at $54.88 and Amazon at $338.64.

Piper Jaffray has raised its price target on Amazon to $400 from $350, believing that Amazon will hold its ecommerce market share through the holiday season.

Meanwhile, statistics have shown that eBay monthly users from U.S. have dropped to a new 3 year low. This probably is some concern that Ebay's marketplace is not performing as well as it should be. Icahn Capital LP has been pushing for Ebay to spin off its Paypal business and that could serve as catalyst for the stock.