Q2 GMV On Track For eBay, Says Baird

Baird said its eBay Inc (NASDAQ: EBAY) tracker suggests steady growth trends in May, showing the month's volumes grew in the mid-single-digit range year-over-year, generally consistent with its April results.

"With April and May data combined, we believe that Q2 GMV is on track for eBay, although we have yet to see a meaningful boost from recent structured data and product page improvements (more likely in 2H-2016.)," analyst Colin Sebastian wrote in a note.

Sebastian, who maintained his Outperform rating on valuation and potential for accelerating growth, said the tracker suggests eBay's second quarter is tracking in line to potentially slightly above his 3 percent GMV growth estimate.

According to ChannelAdvisor's monthly "same store sales" data (distinct from Baird's eBay Tracker), marketplace volume growth on Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) remained steady from April, while Google Shopping showed some acceleration to +41.5 percent from +34 percent in April.

"We note that CA's data for eBay showed some modest improvement to low single-digit growth from slightly negative in April," Sebastian noted.

The analyst recalled that eBay CEO Devin Wenig suggested eBay's data will allow the marketplace to take advantage of significant advancements in artificial intelligence and machine learning.

"In our research, we continue to highlight AI/Machine Learning as critical investments for Internet platform companies," Sebastian added.

At time of writing, shares of eBay rose 1.21 percent to $24.28, while the analyst has a price target of $30.

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