E-Commerce Stocks Have Underperformed This Year. Should You Buy Ahead Of The Holidays?

E-Commerce Stocks Have Underperformed This Year. Should You Buy Ahead Of The Holidays?

Our theme of E-Commerce Stocks - which is comprised of U. S.-based e-commerce companies as well as logistics, and payment players, has returned about 17% year-to-date, underperforming the S&P 500 which remains up by about 23% over the same period. However, the theme is up a solid 171% since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic (end of February 2020). So what's the near-term outlook like for the theme? Now the broader retail space is poised for a strong holiday season as consumers have more money to spend given the stimulus payments, strong trends in wages, and rising household wealth. E-commerce players should also benefit, given that the pandemic has altered consumer behavior to favor online shopping. That said, there are a few factors that could weigh on e-commerce players through the holidays. Firstly, it's likely that growing vaccination rates and the recent decline in Covid-19 cases could drive up spending in brick-and-mortar stores, potentially taking some sheen off e-commerce growth. Moreover, companies have been contending with significant supply issues, due to logistics problems, the current semiconductor shortage, and the overall disruption caused by Covid-19 on supply chains. This could mean that discounting could be somewhat limited. Within our theme, eBay