Use access key #2 to skip to page content.
$23.98 -0.22 (-0.91%)
7/18/2008 4:00 PM

eBay, Inc. (EBAY)

CAPS Rating:
***

The Company's purpose is to pioneer new communities around the world, built on commerce, sustained by trust, and inspired by opportunity. It operates three primary business segments, Marketplaces, Payments and Communications.

View All Commentary (EBAY)

Recs

10

Avatar Toffles (76.41) Submitted: 2/27/08 2:41 PM : Underperform Start Price: $27.45 EBAY Score: 3.96

1. Growth is slowing down fast and p/e ratio remains high. Bad combination.

2. Facing a large number of consumer issues and lawsuits.

3. Fraudulent auctions are out of control and Ebay isn't doing enough to prevent them. The recent feedback changes will result in an increase of this problem.

4. Sellers are seriously disgruntled with Ebay's practices. The boycott this week could very well be the tip of the iceberg.

5. Insiders selling shares.

I could go on, but the bottom line is that this is a bad company and things are finally catching up to it. You don't invest in bad companies even if they happen to have a monopoly.

Report this Post Replies: 3 | Reply

Avatar REIGuy (94.31) Submitted: 3/09/08 7:57 PM

Recs: 0 | Rec This

The P/E ratio is not high. This is just because of the Skype write off. Take a look at the forward P/E which is one of the lowest in the Internet sector.

Report this Post Reply

Avatar riyazH (97.80) Submitted: 5/23/08 2:22 PM

Recs: 0 | Rec This

I'll have to disagree with you on all counts.
1) They have a marketcap of $39B and are expected to make $2B in 2008. Remember, they made $1B in 2005. Also, remember their GROSS REV in 2005 was $4.5B and today it is $8.1B. So, please explain where is the slowdown?

2) Every company has lawsuits, some from employees, others from consumers. But look at the %. A large number of customers are very happy to use eBay.

3) Fraudulent auctions are out of control, but they do a pretty good job or atleast put a decent effort to thwart those. Remember, the market needs an online auction site, and eBay fills that void. No one else is even close. Wherever there is trade, there is going to be fraud. You do not shut down a local WalMart because there is fraudulent returns, shopliftings, etc? Do you, then why do you think eBay will suffer?

4) Sellers are probably disgruntled, because the new Feedback mechanism is more fair to the buyer, and Sellers cannot pass anything along while holding buyers feedback hostage. This is good overall, as quality of sellers will improve, and will drive out dishonest sellers.

5) I have heard, insiders can sell for 1000s of reasons. One cannot punish a stock based on that information. Some insiders want to diversify, others want to send their kids to school, etc.

Report this Post Reply

Avatar SFLogic (69.85) Submitted: 7/17/08 1:12 PM

Recs: 0 | Rec This

The forward P/E is now 12 and they're growing at over 20%. Growth may be slowing but it's not dead (eBay isn't AOL!). Also, there is still strong growth in PayPal (33%), Skype (50%) and StubHub (60% ??). Right now (7/17), it's the best bargain of the Internet sector.

Report this Post Reply

Featured Broker Partners