It's Time to Stop Calling Etsy a "Pandemic Stock"
Etsy (NASDAQ: ETSY) just turned in its final quarterly report card for 2020, and it was a doozy. Sales on the online marketplace for handmade goods more than doubled again during the busy holiday shopping season, and management expects that momentum will continue during the first quarter of 2021.
Etsy has certainly gotten a bump from the pandemic. It's unlikely its sales would have increased at the rate they did in 2020 without lockdowns on the economy. However, Etsy was a great growth story before COVID-19 and will continue to be, even after the pandemic is well behind us.
Etsy stock's more than 370% run-up since the start of 2020 has been driven by booming activity on its online platform. In the fourth quarter, gross merchandise sold (GMS) rose 118% to $3.6 billion, equating to revenue of $617 million (up 129% from 2019) and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of $192 million, up 252%. Both figures completely smashed the company's own guidance provided a few months ago.
Source Fool.com
