Analyzing eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) and eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) are both large-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership and earnings.

Risk and Volatility

Amazon.com has a beta of 1.49, meaning that its share price is 49% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, eBay has a beta of 1.3, meaning that its share price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

72.2% of Amazon.com shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.5% of eBay shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.9% of Amazon.com shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of eBay shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Amazon.com and eBay”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Amazon.com	$716.92 billion	3.78	$77.67 billion	$12.37	20.27
eBay	$11.10 billion	4.69	$2.03 billion	$4.58	25.90

Amazon.com has higher revenue and earnings than eBay. Amazon.com is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than eBay, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Amazon.com and eBay’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Amazon.com	16.90%	15.72%	7.79%
eBay	16.84%	49.20%	12.47%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Amazon.com and eBay, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Amazon.com	0	3	56	2	2.98
eBay	2	16	17	0	2.43

Amazon.com currently has a consensus target price of $321.02, suggesting a potential upside of 28.05%. eBay has a consensus target price of $123.36, suggesting a potential upside of 4.00%. Given Amazon.com’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Amazon.com is more favorable than eBay.

Summary

Amazon.com beats eBay on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc. engages in the retail sale of consumer products, advertising, and subscriptions service through online and physical stores in North America and internationally. The company operates through three segments: North America, International, and Amazon Web Services (AWS). It also manufactures and sells electronic devices, including Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TVs, Echo, Ring, Blink, and eero; and develops and produces media content. In addition, the company offers programs that enable sellers to sell their products in its stores; and programs that allow authors, independent publishers, musicians, filmmakers, Twitch streamers, skill and app developers, and others to publish and sell content. Further, it provides compute, storage, database, analytics, machine learning, and other services, as well as advertising services through programs, such as sponsored ads, display, and video advertising. Additionally, the company offers Amazon Prime, a membership program. The company's products offered through its stores include merchandise and content purchased for resale and products offered by third-party sellers. It serves consumers, sellers, developers, enterprises, content creators, advertisers, and employees. Amazon.com, Inc. was incorporated in 1994 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.

About eBay

eBay Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates marketplace platforms that connect buyers and sellers in the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Germany, and internationally. The company’s marketplace platform includes its online marketplace at ebay.com, off-platform businesses, and the eBay suite of mobile apps. Its platforms enable users to list, sell, and buy various products. The company was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.