As the Q4 earnings season wraps, let’s dig into this quarter’s best and worst performers in the online marketplace industry, including CarGurus (NASDAQ:CARG) and its peers.
Marketplaces have existed for centuries. Where once it was a main street in a small town or a mall in the suburbs, sellers benefitted from proximity to one another because they could draw customers by offering convenience and selection. Today, a myriad of online marketplaces fulfill that same role, aggregating large customer bases, which attracts commission-paying sellers, generating flywheel scale effects that feed back into further customer acquisition.
The 12 online marketplace stocks we track reported a mixed Q4. As a group, revenues beat analysts’ consensus estimates by 1.5% while next quarter’s revenue guidance was in line.
In light of this news, share prices of the companies have held steady as they are up 3.1% on average since the latest earnings results.
Bringing transparency to a sometimes opaque process, CarGurus (NASDAQ:CARG) is a digital marketplace where auto dealers can connect with potential customers and where car buyers can browse, purchase, and obtain financing.
CarGurus reported revenues of $241.1 million, up 14.7% year on year. This print exceeded analysts’ expectations by 0.8%. Despite the top-line beat, it was still a mixed quarter for the company with revenue guidance for next quarter topping analysts’ expectations but EBITDA guidance for next quarter missing analysts’ expectations.
“2025 was a pivotal year for CarGurus as we delivered strong financial performance while expanding our products and use cases across both dealer workflows and the consumer journey,” said Jason Trevisan, Chief Executive Officer at CarGurus.
CarGurus Total Revenue
Interestingly, the stock is up 19.3% since reporting and currently trades at $34.85.
Originally known as the first online auction site, eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) is one of the world’s largest online marketplaces.
eBay reported revenues of $2.97 billion, up 15% year on year, outperforming analysts’ expectations by 3%. The business had an exceptional quarter with revenue and EPS guidance for next quarter beating analysts’ expectations.
eBay Total Revenue
The market seems happy with the results as the stock is up 19.6% since reporting. It currently trades at $98.33.
Originally featuring a library that included many of founder Jon Oringer’s photos, Shutterstock (NYSE:SSTK) is now a digital platform where customers can license and use hundreds of millions of pieces of content.
Shutterstock reported revenues of $220.2 million, down 12% year on year, falling short of analysts’ expectations by 12.7%. It was a disappointing quarter as it posted a significant miss of analysts’ revenue and EBITDA estimates.
Shutterstock delivered the weakest performance against analyst estimates and slowest revenue growth in the group. Interestingly, the stock is up 1.4% since the results and currently trades at $17.52.
Powering more than one billion grocery orders since its founding, Instacart (NASDAQ:CART) is an online grocery shopping and delivery platform that partners with retailers to help customers shop from local stores through its app or website.
Instacart reported revenues of $992 million, up 12.3% year on year. This result topped analysts’ expectations by 2%. Overall, it was a strong quarter as it also logged a solid beat of analysts’ EBITDA and revenue estimates.
The stock is up 23.9% since reporting and currently trades at $41.19.
Originally started as an online auction platform, MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) is a one-stop e-commerce marketplace and fintech platform in Latin America.
MercadoLibre reported revenues of $8.76 billion, up 44.6% year on year. This number beat analysts’ expectations by 3.2%. It was a strong quarter as it also recorded impressive growth in its users and a decent beat of analysts’ revenue estimates.
MercadoLibre scored the fastest revenue growth among its peers. The company reported 83 million daily active users, up 23.9% year on year. The stock is down 4.4% since reporting and currently trades at $1,838.
Late in 2025 into early 2026, there was hand wringing around artificial intelligence. For software companies, the fear was that AI would erode pricing power and compress margins as new tools made it easier to replicate what once required expensive enterprise platforms. Crypto investors had their own version of the same anxiety: if AI agents could trade, allocate capital, and manage wallets autonomously, what exactly was the long-term value of today’s crypto infrastructure?
These concerns triggered a noticeable rotation away from these sectors and into safer havens. But markets rarely dwell on one narrative for long. Spring 2026 came, and the focus shifted abruptly from technological disruption to geopolitical risk. The US’ conflict with Iran became the dominant driver of market psychology, and when geopolitics takes center stage, the script changes quickly. Investors stop debating growth rates and start worrying about oil supply, inflation, and global stability.
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