The goal here is to offer more in-demand items that appeal to young people, especially those Gen Z and millennials that like to shop frequently.īefore Iannone joined the company, eBay was focused on growing total active buyers with no consideration to the quality of its customers in terms of how engaged they are and how much they spend. The result was that active buyer growth was slowing to just 1% right before the pandemic in Q1 2020. Still, $2 billion of GMV is not much compared to eBay's total GMV of $22 billion in the last quarter, but there is more to the strategy with the recent category expansions. Trading cards, for example, generated $2 billion in gross merchandise volume (GMV) in the first half of the year, and Iannone sees "untapped potential" for further growth in the category. That's more than triple eBay's active buyer increase of 11 million during 2020.ĮBay has reported strong results from new categories in recent quarters, including authenticated sneakers, trading cards, and luxury watches. 11, but with growth decelerating, it's difficult to say whether the stock will continue to head higher in the near term. But eBay could reaccelerate its revenue growth in 2022, based on management's strategy to improve the marketplace business.ĬEO Jamie Iannone took over in April 2020 and has brought plenty of experience with him after working as chief operating officer of Walmart's e-commerce business. eBay is facing mounting pressure from new rivals, such as Etsy, which posted triple-digit revenue growth in 2020 and added 35.5 million new active buyers. The stock price is up 7.1% since the earnings report on Aug. In the third quarter, management expects revenue to grow 6% to 8% on a currency-neutral basis over the year-ago quarter. In the second quarter, revenue grew 11% on a currency-neutral basis, which is down from 42% in the first quarter and 30% in the year-ago quarter. However, eBay is facing tougher year-over-year growth comparisons this year. eBay trades at 19 times the consensus earnings estimate for 2021, which is below the S&P 500 average forward earnings multiple of 22. The stock could be marginally undervalued, depending on how much eBay continues to grow over the long term. Valuation is always important to consider when evaluating a stock's potential upside.