The Big Winners In Online Shopping (AMZN, EBAY)

It's no secret that Amazon AMZN and eBay EBAY are the two kings of online shopping Amazon offers the greatest combination of selection and price, while eBay offers things from the around the world for a variety of prices, from everyone. In an article from Barron's written by Pacific Crest Securities, the analysts from the research firm compared a multitude of online retailers, including Amazon, Buy.com, eBay, Overstock.com OSTK and Wal-Mart Stores WMT. Based on the checks that Pacific Crest did, it believes that Amazon has by far the best selection and overall pricing, and that should bode well for Amazon this holiday season and into next year. Pacific Crest noted that there were different deals on the various sites, but that Amazon had the lowest or tied for the lowest price half the time. Wal-Mart had the second-lowest price, a quarter of the time. Pacific Crest said that it doesn't expect Wal-Mart's free shipping will impact Amazon really, as it's just a savings of $25 million. It is positive on eBay, but believes there are better stocks to own, at these price levels. It believes that eBay is fairly valued, and would look to add at a lower share price, around the mid-to-low $20s. Pacific Crest is also bullish on Amazon in the longer term, but believes shares are fairly valued at the current share price, which is 38 times 2011 earnings. Disclosure: no position in any companies mentioned