eBay (EBAY) has added non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to the broad list of items that people can buy on its online marketplace.
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The sale of NFTs reflects an expansion of the company’s digital collectibles business. The popularity of NFTs has increased significantly this year, especially after artwork by Beeple was sold for a whopping $69 million.
Initially, the retailer is allowing the auction of select NFT categories, such as trading cards, music, and art. It will use the initial rollout as an experiment to gather feedback and learn more about its community’s preferences. From there, it expects to expand to more categories, and also establish programs and tools to facilitate its NFT marketplace.
eBay aims to be the top marketplace for collectibles, and plans to add blockchain-based collectibles in the future.
“In the coming months, eBay will add new capabilities that bring blockchain-driven collectibles to our platform,” said Jordan Sweetnam, Senior Vice President and General Manager, North America.
It is unclear whether the planned introduction of blockchain-based products will open the door to eBay accepting cryptocurrency payments. (See eBay stock analysis on TipRanks)
Baird analyst Colin Sebastian reiterated a Buy rating with a $65 price target on eBay stock. Sebastian’s price target implies a 7.56% upside potential to the current price.
The analyst says that eBay’s Q1 earnings results were impressive and that the company’s prospects are bright. For example, there is still plenty of opportunity for the company to grow its eCommerce, digital advertising, and payments revenue.
“eBay’s properties generate a significant amount of Internet traffic, which the company monetizes primarily through advertising, revenue sharing and fees from classifieds,” noted Sebastian.
The consensus rating is a Moderate Buy based on 8 Buy and 10 Hold ratings. The average analyst price target of $70.44 points to 16.56% upside potential to current levels.
EBAY scores a 6 out of 10 on TipRanks’ Smart Score rating system, indicating that the stock is likely to perform in line with market averages.
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