Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak upgraded eBay (EBAY) two notches, to Overweight from Underweight, as expects the company to start pulling away from PayPal (PYPL) and intermediating its own payments in 2018, with a planned full transition in mid-2020. He is bullish about this initiative, noting that other leading platforms - including Amazon (AMZN), Booking (BKNG), and others - have seen higher user conversion and spending from more integrated and comprehensive payment offerings, Nowak tells investors. Not only can payments drive faster GMV growth, it can also add 20% to companywide EBIT, Nowak estimates. He raised his price target on eBay shares to $58 from $36.

Unusual total active option classes on open include: Wrap Technologies (WRAP), AstraZeneca (AZN), JetBlue (JBLU), United Continental (UAL), Taiwan Semi (TSM), Nokia (NOK), EBay (EBAY), Maplebear Inc (CART), Airbnb (ABNB), and UnitedHealth (UNH).

Big River Services International sells around $1M a year in goods in e-commerce marketplaces and is an arm of Amazon that gathers intelligence on the company's competitors, Dana Mattioli and Sarah Nassauer of The Wall Street Journal reports. Big River uses its sales across multiple countries to gather pricing data, logistics, and other details about rival marketplaces, people familiar with the matter told the Journal. Reference Link

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Get caught up quickly on the top news and calls moving stocks with these five Top Five lists. 1... To see the rest of the story go to thefly.com. See Story Here

As previously reported, Maxim analyst Tom Forte initiated coverage of Amazon.com with a Buy rating and $218 price target. The firm believes the company will be able to exploit consumer internet trends that include advertising, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, healthcare, logistics, and over-the-top, or OTT, video. The firm projects a compound annual sales growth rate of 6.5% from 2023-2026, which it notes compares to 14.2% in the prior three-year period.

Maxim initiated coverage of Amazon.com with a Buy rating and $218 price target.

Enthusiast Gaming Holdings (EGLXF) announced that in partnership with Amazon (AMZN), its esports team, Luminosity will be hosting a Rocket League invitational event featuring North America's top-ranked teams and players to promote Amazon Prime. The two-day invitational event will be hosted by Sean 'Spaceman' Rogers and Jack 'Corelli' Collier and feature eight of the top professional North American Rocket League teams, including Luminosity's very own, as they compete to earn a $15,000 prize pool on April 30th and May 1st. Throughout the tournament, players will be able to use unlimited boost as part of the 'Prime Boost Advantage' while Luminosity will run dynamic overlays that encourage fans to boost their shopping and streaming experience with Amazon. To promote the event, participants will be actively posting on their personal social media accounts and streaming their perspective of the event. In addition, the Company is pleased to announce that its previously announced sale of select non-core and non-profitable casual gaming assets has closed. Among the assets included as part of the divestment were Shockwave, LittleBigSnake, MathGames.com, and TypeRacer.com. Further details on the transaction can be found in the Company's press release dated April 1, 2024.

Amazon's HQ2 in Arlington, Virginia lost 200 jobs in 2023, missing the company's goal of adding 2,500 jobs, The Washington Post's Teo Armus reports. Amazon's HQ2 has roughly 8,000 employees and plans to reach about 25,000 by the end of the decade, according to its agreement with Virginia, Armus writes. Reference Link