eBay Watch: Shopping.com Falls Behind, Bullish Before Earnings

Shopping.com Falls Behind

eBay's (EBAY) comparison shopping property Shopping.com is struggling to keep up with its main rival Shopzilla.com (SSP). According to the latest comScore data, March was yet another month of negative Y/Y growth in unique visitors for Shopping.com while Shopzilla.com posted another impressive 47% Y/Y gain.

Shopping.com is also in the midst of management change, having just appointed Andre Haddad as CEO last month. Haddad is an eBay veteran, originally having founded iBazar, the European marketplace he sold to eBay in 2001. With Haddad's specialty in merger integration, I would not be surprised to see eBay reinforce Shopping.com with some bolt-on acquisitions later this year.

More Bulls Emerge Ahead of Earnings

Following bullish reports and upgrades from Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America a couple of weeks ago, Piper Jaffray analyst Aaron Kessler raised his eBay price target Monday to $40 from $34. Kessler also lifted his first-quarter earnings estimate to 42 cents a share from 40 cents and his revenue forecast to $2.16 billion from $2.06 billion. This is still below my estimate but starting to get closer.

Update: And in another price target increase this week, Jefferies & Co. analyst Youssef Squali raised his price target to $40 from $34, saying he expects strong first-quarter earnings. Squali is predicting a first-quarter profit of 39 cents per share and revenues of $2.11 billion.

Update 2: And also, American Technology Research analyst Tim Boyd states he expects a beat-and-raise quarter. Boyd sees Q1 revenue of $2.1 billion and EPS of 40 cents versus the Street at $2.06 billion and 39 cents.