The company’s shares are down a bit since gaining independence and the competition in the payments space is heating up with Apple (AAPL) and the big banks making a bigger push. Barron’s and others see a lot of upside in the company though. Perhaps the expectations were a bit high out of the gate? Meanwhile, eBay is up a bit after reporting a nice quarter in late October which included over $500m of shares repurchased. Some are even arguing its undervalued with much more upside than downside. This is a nice, full recap of the recent moves the company has made. Ultimately, a few months of share price performance are meaningless when considering the long term trajectories of these businesses. Wedbush analyst Gil Luria gave his take on the situation:
eBay and PayPal appeal to completely different investors — that is the benefit of the spin-off…Growth investors will follow Mr. Icahn’s lead and invest in PayPal, and investors looking for return of cash and a low valuation will continue to own eBay.
A bit simple, but mostly fair. After succeeding at eBay, I bet Mr. Icahn’s attention right now is mostly focused on his newest mega breakup target: American International Group (AIG).
Disclosure: Author holds shares of AAPL