Liquidity Services Holding Its Recent Gains Strongly (NASDAQ:LQDT, AMZN, EBAY, OSTK)

Liquidity Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:LQDT) has been showing consistent gain over the past few weeks and now is trading higher by 1% to $48.09 after analysts at Oppenheimer boosted the company’s share price target.Liquidity Services is rated Outperform by Oppenheimer and the price target increased from $43 to $57, citing strong monthly GSS data for Commercial and GovDeals. The firm now estimates F2Q GMV (merchandise volume) growth of 49% vs. 27% previously, or 30% organic growth, with long-term GMV growth of 28% or 19% organic.

Last week, the company said that it has appointed Mike Lutz as Vice President, Human Resources. Mr. Lutz will serve as a member of the executive leadership team and will report to Bill Angrick, Chairman and CEO of Liquidity Services.
Going through the fundamentals, the company reported first quarter revenue of $106.0 million, an increase of 35% from the prior year’s comparable period. Net income was $9.1 million or $0.28 diluted earnings per share. The company’s first quarter 2012 operating cash flow was $12.2 million, an increase of approximately 80% from the prior year’s comparable period.

The company also said during fiscal year 2012, the company expect to fund major upgrades in their technology infrastructure to support further integration of its existing businesses and online marketplaces.Additionally, the company expects fiscal 2012 GMV to range from $700 million to $740 million and for the second quarter GMV is expected to be in between $165 million to $175 million. Adjusted Earnings per Diluted Share for fiscal year 2012 is forecasted to be in the range of $1.32 to $1.38, and second quarter adjusted Earnings per Diluted Share to be in between $0.28 to $0.32.Moreover, the company will report the results of its second quarter fiscal year 2012 ending March 31, 2012 on Thursday, May 3, 2012 at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time. Analysts are estimating the company to report 34 cents in profit, compared to a year ago profit of 22 cents a share. Revenue is estimated to grow by 29.20% to $118.99 million, from a year ago revenue of $92.10 million.

So far this year, shares of LQDT have jumped over 34% and soared over 165% over the past one year. The stock recently made an all-time high of $51.80.The company faces strong competition from Amazon.com, Inc.(NASDAQ:AMZN), eBay Inc(NASDAQ:EBAY) and Overstock.com, Inc.(NASDAQ:OSTK).