In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. Friedrich Nietzsche
My take on the situation is this. Both eBay and PayPal are value investments; they’re great brands and well-run companies that generate a lot of cash. Both companies also operate in a sector that has a lot of room for growth. Yet they are also undervalued by the market, probably because they operate in an unsexy sector, namely, basic e-commerce.
Read More
The only U.S. retailer that reported more TTM revenue growth than Walmart was Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN). The online giant’s TTM revenue grew by $14.45 billion between December 2014 and December 2015. Amazon reported a TTM revenue of $74.45 billion in December 2014 that grew to $88.99 billion by December 2015.
Read More
Something else that is also obvious is that PayPal would be an acquisition target; purchasing it would give a large bank, retailer or credit card company access to a vast financial network and tens of millions of potential customers.
Read More
This could indicate that traditional banking might no longer be a viable business because of the alternatives available. Things could soon get worse because PayPal is about to get spun off from eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) and transformed into an independent financial services company that will compete directly with banks.
Read More
• Abolish the payroll or withholding taxes, which take a percentage of a person’s salary. These hit the working poor heavily, and they do not raise enough money to cover the costs of programs like Social Security and Medicare.
Read More
Walmart is no longer on the cutting edge of retail; it cannot even compete with bottom-feeding dollar stores. The Behemoth from Bentonville still makes a lot of money; it just cannot attract any new customers. What is going on here?
Read More
The major reason Jack Ma will stay away from mass retail in the U.S. is that the cost of entering in the market could simply be too high. The revenue from a large-scale U.S. retail operation might not justify the cost of setting up such a venture.
Read More
It looks as if the purveyors of digital wallets are going to have to do a lot of old fashioned marketing if they want to get the public to accept their products. That might give Current C an advantage in the digital wallet wars because some of the companies behind it, such as Kroger, are very good at marketing.
Read MoreGoogle (NASDAQ: GOOG) has been experimenting with Google Express, a delivery service that picks up orders from stores and takes them to customers, for some time. Google Express even offers a same-day delivery service in some U.S. cities, including San Francisco. Big name retailers participating in Google Express include Target (NYSE: TGT), Walgreens (NASDAQ: WBA), Whole Foods (NASDAQ: WFM), Costco (NASDAQ: COST), Staples (NASDAQ: SPLS), PetSmart (NASDAQ: PETM), REI, and Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS).
Read More
A very dark horse contender for an eBay acquisition would be Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BERK.B). Uncle Warren is famously technology adverse, but eBay does meet some of his criteria: it’s a good company with a strong brand that’s well respected on Main Street but undervalued by the market. It also has a business model that generates a lot of float and cash—two of Buffett’s favorite things.
Read More