The Explosion of e-Commerce in China
April 28, 2010 by Seeking Alpha
Filed under Investment Ideas
Original Article from Seeking Alpha Long Investment
With China’s online population of 400 million users, China’s internet players like Baidu (BIDU), Shanda (SNDA), and Sohu (SOHU) are becoming more and more innovative rather than followers of internet firms in the U.S. They are also monetizing their products and services. Growing innovation also applies to financial services, a sector traditionally more conservative. CMR recently sat down with Pascal Nouvellon from COFIDIS, Europe’s online credit powerhouse and Vice-Chairman of the Consumer Finance Working Group at the European Chamber of Commerce in China to discuss online market trends.
CMR: What are the trends in China’s internet that investors and executives need to know about?
Read more articles from Seeking Alpha Long Investment
An E-Commerce Enabler That Just Lost Its Biggest Customer Is This Hedge Fund Manager’s Highest Conviction Pick
February 15, 2010 by Seeking Alpha
Filed under Investment Ideas
Original Article from Seeking Alpha Editor’s Pick
Simon Wong is the Principal of Pantheon Partners, L.P., a technology hedge fund based in New York City that focuses on longer-term product/industry cycles and turn-around situations where Pantheon fund managers believe their investments can outperform the market.
Prior to joining Pantheon in 2004, Simon was a partner at Sycamore Ventures, and previously worked in engineering and market capacities at Intel Corporation, and in venture capital and investment banking positions at various affiliates of James D. Wolfensohn, Inc.
Read more articles from Seeking Alpha Editor’s Pick
Mercadolibre: E-Commerce Sales Soar as Latin America’s Households Get Wired
December 24, 2009 by Seeking Alpha
Filed under Investment Ideas
Original Article from Seeking Alpha Long Investment
Trader Mark submits:
As I peruse our archives, I noticed I have not spoken about former fund holding Mercadolibre (MELI) once in year 2009; so with time running out on the year, we should sneak one in. We last owned this name in 2008, but in a year like that – a high valuation foreign growth stock is not exactly a harbor of safety and it was difficult to make any money. Our last sale of the name was August 2008 around $35; within 2 months the stock actually was down at $10. Much like Baidu.com (BIDU) in China, this is a dominant franchise in its region / niche – but never cheap. Currently MELI sits at 73x forward 09 estimates – having traded both for many years, it’s rare to see them every even at the 30-40x forward estimates range.
[click to enlarge]
Read more articles from Seeking Alpha Long Investment
Bidz.com: Don’t Overlook the Value of E-Commerce Investment
December 3, 2009 by Seeking Alpha
Filed under Investment Ideas
Original Article from Seeking Alpha Long Investment
We are attracted to the Internet and e-commerce space given favorable long-term secular trends. In October, for example, we noted that we have a slight bias toward asset light, cash generating Internet companies such as Youbet (UBET), PetMed Express (PETS), and Bidz (BIDZ). We also relayed data and insights included in Emerging E-commerce Trends and Practical Insights by Mark Brohan, VP of Research, Internet Retailer.
Last week, comScore (SCOR) reported that "holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 22 days of the November – December 2009 holiday season" was up 2% Y/Y. The web traffic measurement firm also announced expectations for a 3% Y/Y increase for the full season. Since then, we’ve see positive numbers for Black Friday and Cyber Monday (also from comScore – link here). While Y/Y growth remains moderate, we believe the increase is not only favorable for the space, but for the overall economy (supporting our earlier retail commentary).
Read more articles from Seeking Alpha Long Investment
Can Mobile and E-Commerce Lead the Recovery in Online Advertising?
August 13, 2009 by
Filed under News
Erick Schonfeld submits:
We’ve seen two quarters of declines in online advertising revenues, but signs of a recovery, or at least a reset, are beginning to show. In a note Thursday explaining why he is bullish on Google (GOOG), Citi Internet analyst Mark Mahaney makes the case for cautious optimism.
Amazon: No Major Threat from Target’s New E-Commerce Initiative
August 9, 2009 by
Filed under News
Target’s (TGT) decision Friday to build out its e-commerce infrastructure won’t likely hurt Amazon.com (AMZN), writes J.P. Morgan analyst Imran Khan in a note to clients. In fact, it could help.
Target announced Friday it would construct its own order-fulfillment services for its online sales, which totaled $1.8 billion last year, according to Khan’s estimate, signalling the end of its use of Amazon’s back-office fulfillment services, for which Amazon receives a fee.
Costco Wholesale: An e-Commerce Trailblazer
June 21, 2009 by
Filed under Articles
RetailSails submits:
Consistent – that’s simply the best word to describe the performance of Costco Wholesale (COST). In just 25 years of operations, they have grown from one warehouse in Seattle with 244,000 club members and $101 million in sales to 555 warehouse clubs, 53.5 million members, and nearly $71 billion in annual sales.
Costco is now one of the largest, and certainly most admired companies in the world. Their strategy is simple: offer a limited selection of in-demand products at very competitive prices, with a policy of not marking up products by more than 15%. The success of this strategy, as well as the consistency, can be seen in their results:
The Amazon Tax on e-Commerce: Coming Soon to a State Near You
April 30, 2009 by
Filed under News
William S. Galkin, Esq. submits:
Background: Last year, New York started requiring certain out-of-state online vendors to collect and pay New York sales tax on purchases made by New York residents. This has become known as the “Amazon tax,” because Amazon (AMZN) was one of the high profile sites affected and embroiled in the ensuing controversy.
In order to impose sales tax collection requirements on out-of-state vendors, New York had to get around the 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Quill v. North Dakota (504 U.S. 298 (1992)), which held that out-of-state retailers cannot be required to collect sales tax on sales to persons in states where the retailer does not have a physical presence, because requiring merchants to adhere to the complexities of the state and local tax codes would place an unreasonable burden on interstate commerce.
E-Commerce Battle: Amazon and eBay on Deck
April 22, 2009 by
Filed under News
Scot Wingo submits:
Wednesday, 4/22, at 5pm, eBay (EBAY) announces their Q1 results. Wednesday, 4/23, Amazon (AMZN) reports their Q1 results.
- Amazon grew at 18% (that’s the entire business – I’m sure the seller business was much higher)
- eBay’s GMV grew at -12%
- eCommerce grew at -3% (comscore)
ChannelAdvisor’s Q1 data
At ChannelAdvisor we track same-store-sales closely and here’s what we saw in Q1. While we are a small % of eBay+Amazon’s GMV, historically our data tracks pretty closely to what is going on at the larger companies. Same store sales takes out any data skewing from customer adds which are pretty significant.
- Ecommerce:
- Jan – 3% y/y growth
- Feb – 4% y/y growth
- March – 9% y/y growth
- eBay:
- Jan – -12% y/y growth
- Feb – -10% y/y growth
- March – -5% y/y growth
- Amazon:
- Jan - 40% y/y growth
- Feb – 47% y/y growth
- March – 55% y/y growth
Wall Streets Expectations for eBay and Amazon
- Q1 Revenue – $1.94b-1.98b
- Q1 EPS – $.33-$.35
- Q1 US GMV Growth – -15% to -10%
- Q1 Intl GMV Growth – -2 to 2%
- Q2 Rev guidance – $1.98b-$2b
- Q2 EPS guidance – $.35-$.37
-
- Q1 Revenue – $4.7b – $4.9b
- Q1 EPS – $.31
- Q1 Op Income – $260-$285
- Q1 US Rev growth – 13%-16%
- Q1 Intl Rev growth – 13%-16%
- Q1 Third-Party Mix – 30%-33%
- Q2 Rev guidance – $4.5b – $4.65b
- Q2 Op Income guidance – $240-$26
Amazon Responsible for One Third of U.S. E-Commerce
April 14, 2009 by
Filed under News
Eric Savitz (Barron’s) submits:
One online retailer to rule them all.
Amazon.com (AMZN) could be responsible for close to a third of all U.S. e-commerce transactions, RBC Capital analyst Stephen Ju asserted in a research note Tuesday morning. Ju notes that Amazon’s reported revenues consist of a mix of gross revenues from its own businesses plus net third-party commissions. To date, he notes, Amazon has not given a break down of the two numbers, other than as a percentage of units shipped. The question, he says, is how much third-party gross merchandise value is flowing through Amazon’s platform – and what slice of all e-commerce Amazon is actually facilitating.