3 Top E-Commerce Stocks to Buy Right Now

As more businesses bring their sales online and consumers opt for digital stores over physical ones, worldwide e-commerce sales are poised to grow from $2.8 trillion last year to $4.9 trillion in 2021. And as e-commerce expands, it’s creating huge investment opportunities.

<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="To help you pick a few of the best stocks in the e-commerce space, we asked three Motley Fool contributors for their top picks to buy now. Here's why eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY), JD.com (NASDAQ: JD), and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) topped their lists.” data-reactid=”12″>To help you pick a few of the best stocks in the e-commerce space, we asked three Motley Fool contributors for their top picks to buy now. Here’s why eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY), JD.com (NASDAQ: JD), and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) topped their lists.

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Consider this underappreciated online marketplace

<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Steve Symington&nbsp;(eBay): With as much attention as companies like Amazon.com command from investors, it’s easy to forget about all the other companies making waves in the e-commerce space. But shares of the original online marketplace soared following its strong first-quarter 2019 results last month.” data-reactid=”26″>Steve Symington (eBay): With as much attention as companies like Amazon.com command from investors, it’s easy to forget about all the other companies making waves in the e-commerce space. But shares of the original online marketplace soared following its strong first-quarter 2019 results last month.

That’s not to say eBay’s headline numbers looked amazing at first glance. Quarterly revenue rose a modest 2.4%, to $2.643 billion, while adjusted earnings climbed a much more impressive 10.9%, to $608 million. Thanks to ambitious stock repurchases over the past year, including 42 million shares bought back for $1.5 billion in the first quarter alone, adjusted earnings per share soared 26%, to $0.67.

<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="But arguably most exciting are eBay's investments in next-gen payment and advertising solutions. Under a multiyear initiative that began early last year,&nbsp;eBay intermediated $220 million of gross merchandise volume in the first quarter alone on its marketplace platform — up 61% from the previous quarter. It also saw more than 800,000 active sellers promote over 200 million listings in the first three months of 2019, with each delivering an average visibility boost of 36% and collectively generating incremental revenue of $65 million.” data-reactid=”28″>But arguably most exciting are eBay’s investments in next-gen payment and advertising solutions. Under a multiyear initiative that began early last year, eBay intermediated $220 million of gross merchandise volume in the first quarter alone on its marketplace platform — up 61% from the previous quarter. It also saw more than 800,000 active sellers promote over 200 million listings in the first three months of 2019, with each delivering an average visibility boost of 36% and collectively generating incremental revenue of $65 million.

<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="As these initiatives continue to gain scale, so too will the leverage eBay enjoys in bolstering its top and bottom lines. Combined with a recently initiated dividend&nbsp;that yields around 1.6% at today’s prices, it’s only a matter of time before the rest of the market catches on to what a bargain eBay stock represents right now.” data-reactid=”29″>As these initiatives continue to gain scale, so too will the leverage eBay enjoys in bolstering its top and bottom lines. Combined with a recently initiated dividend that yields around 1.6% at today’s prices, it’s only a matter of time before the rest of the market catches on to what a bargain eBay stock represents right now.

This Chinese e-commerce titan really shouldn’t be this cheap

<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Anders Bylund (JD.com): Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com is in dire straits these days — at least if you measure the company’s health by stock performance. Share prices slid 28% lower over the last 52 weeks, and JD’s stock is trading 42% below their yearly highs. Investors can pick up the stock at the affordable valuation of 9.6 times free cash flows.” data-reactid=”31″>Anders Bylund (JD.com): Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com is in dire straits these days — at least if you measure the company’s health by stock performance. Share prices slid 28% lower over the last 52 weeks, and JD’s stock is trading 42% below their yearly highs. Investors can pick up the stock at the affordable valuation of 9.6 times free cash flows.

Meanwhile, JD has absolutely crushed Wall Street’s earnings expectations in the last two quarterly reports. Top-line sales are growing at an average annual pace of 37% over the last three years. The company is not only profitable, but also an effective cash machine. In fiscal year 2018, JD converted 4% of its incoming revenues into free cash flows.

<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="The stock is cheap, but not because JD's business is floundering. Instead, investors are punishing this ticker while Washington and Beijing flex their macroeconomic muscles in a tariff-laden trade war. Moreover, CEO and founder Richard Liu was accused of sexual misconduct last fall and now faces a civil lawsuit filed by the alleged victim.” data-reactid=”33″>The stock is cheap, but not because JD’s business is floundering. Instead, investors are punishing this ticker while Washington and Beijing flex their macroeconomic muscles in a tariff-laden trade war. Moreover, CEO and founder Richard Liu was accused of sexual misconduct last fall and now faces a civil lawsuit filed by the alleged victim.

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