Etsy seen benefiting from e-commerce trends as site visits accelerate: Oppenheimer

By Liz Moyer

Investing.com -- Etsy Inc (NASDAQ:ETSY) stands to benefit from trends showing e-commerce gained ground through the holiday season, according to a research note from Oppenheimer. 

The analysts, who rate the stock an outperform, raised their price target to $150 from $125, implying a 9% upside from the current level.

The analysts said site visits are up 7% in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, an acceleration from the third quarter gain of 3% and the second quarter decline of 5%, citing their own data and data from Similarweb. Unique visits accelerated, too, up 15% in the fourth quarter versus 7% in the third quarter, the analysts said. 

Shares of Etsy rose more than 2% on Friday afternoon and are up 14.5% so far this year.

Oppenheimer noted that data showed e-commerce firms have been gaining share since July. Analytics from SpendingPulse showed share gains through the holiday season, the research note said. Etsy is an online marketplace of artisans and independent sellers.

The analysts said they are forecasting 2023 gross merchandise sales up 6%, which is in line with the Street consensus. It is also modeling 2023 total revenue up 8% from 2022, slightly below consensus.

Catalysts include seller adoption of free shipping, efficiency in marketing, the successful execution of a unified ad platform and the announcement and execution of price increases, the research note said. 

Etsy reports earnings on Feb. 23. Analysts are expecting earnings per share of 80 cents on revenue of $753 million.