JMP Securities recently kicked off its coverage of the Internet space, citing buy recommendations on on such beloved Internet brands as Google (GOOGL -1.97%), eBay (EBAY 0.31%), and priceline.com (BKNG -0.43%). In addition, upstart Internet brand Zillow (ZG -1.10%) made the company's buy list. These are all tremendous companies that have seen their values soar across the past five years, so which one is the best value for investors today?
In the following video, senior tech analyst Eric Bleeker and Austin Smith weigh in on which company is the best buy in the group. Google, Pricline, and eBay all trade for north of 25 times earnings, while Zillow itself is closer to 300 times. None is cheap, but great companies with a long runway of growth rarely are.
Eric notes that while it's hard to go wrong with any of these names, Google's recent run-up would make him shy away from putting additional money behind Google versus other values in the space. He notes that Priceline has been trading for slightly cheaper than Google recently, which is a big reversal from recent years, when the company was much more expensive. In the summer of 2011, Priceline traded for north of 50 times earnings while Google was in the mid-20s.
He notes that while Priceline's days of heady domestic growth are gone, its booking.com unit continues to be a crown jewel dominating the favorable travel market in Europe, where employees have more vacation time, commissions are higher, and fewer chains gives booking.com better pricing power. Among a group of very expensive stocks, Priceline stands out as the company in the group that's the cheapest its been in a long time.
To see Eric and Austin's full thoughts and discussion on the opportunities buying different Internet companies today, watch the full video.
