eBay is already experienced with online classifieds but, according to one pundit, they could be getting a much bigger slice of the classified action and it represents an area of revenue and profit growth. Analyst Daniel Jones of Avaring Capital Advisors says that, considering eBay Inc’s strong cashflow, that investment in the already fast growing portion of the firm could turbo-charge results.
Obviously in the UK, the biggest and most recognised online classifieds brand owned by eBay is Gumtree. But when you look around the world it is a significant selection of different sites, offerings and brands including mobile.de, Kijiji, Marktplaats and eBay Kleinanzeigen. And in Canada, for instance, Kijiji is the most popular online classifieds website in the country.
It is always difficult to get a sense of exactly how different divisions of eBay are performing because the financial reports don’t break out revenues for the constituent parts of the eBay whole. And, it’s also fair to say, the classified portion of the business doesn’t tend to attract much attention. But as Jones says in his report, which you can read in full here:
While it is true that eBay is an online auction house, the company is far larger and far more complicated than just that. Case-in-point, we have its Classifieds business, which consists of a menagerie of digital assets that collectively bring in significant sales and growth for shareholders. Individually, it’s impossible to tell how much these assets are worth, but with attractive aggregate sales nearing or possibly even surpassing $1 billion this year, and with years of robust growth prospects ahead, shareholders in eBay should find this part of the business compelling.
– Daniel Jones, Avaring Capital Advisors
In part, this analysis is potentially illuminating when considering the rumoured investor activism that has given eBay’s stock price little filip this week. We we wrote about that here: eBay investor rumours send stock price up 6%.
