Time to Bid on eBay Shares?

Pros figure that the Web auction pioneer is undervalued, especially as earnings prospects improve in coming quarters.

Put it on eBay!

That’s become a stock phrase for anyone who wants to sell stuff. It also demonstrates how much the name eBay (EBAY) has morphed into a generic term for an online auction marketplace where people get to trade just about anything.

It made eBay a sensation on Wall Street just as the Internet caught the fancy of investors in the late 1990s. The company went public in September 1998. From a split-adjusted $1 a share, the stock streaked to $29 the next year and just kept on flying. By late 2004, eBay reached a peak at $59.20 a

In fact, it is a stock that now deserves new attention, say the bulls.

Since October 2007, when it traded at 40, the stock’s value has tumbled nearly 50%. The stock is the kind of discounted product that would attract buyers if put on eBay’s own site. But on the Nasdaq, where eBay is now trading at 23, the stock isn’t catching fire. Although eBay dominates as the operator of the largest online trading community, rising competition, U.S. economic weakness, and a softening in the company’s growth rate have turned off investors.   Read More

by Gene Marcial