E-Commerce Stocks Upgraded, Sector Advances

An industry upgrade boosted ecommerce software stocks on Thursday.

The e-commerce software industry is focused on facilitating sales for online retailers and other companies. Today, the sector is benefiting from an analyst upgrade of its second largest company, Digital River (DRIV). JMP Securities analyst Sameet Sinha upped his rating on the stock to Market Outperform from Market Perform. Sinha cited the potential for a 15% free cash flow increase in 2010. Shares are up by 6%.

The E-Commerce Software Stocks Index is up by 5.3% today. The Index is now beating the S&P 500 by 4.8% over the last month.

Meanwhile, analyst Merriman made some positive comments on LivePerson (LPSN) today, sending shares up by 13%. The analyst noted the company’s strong EBITDA and cash flow, and said that the stock is trading at more than a -50% discount to its peers, and should be priced at $5 to $7 a share.

NetSuite (N) shares are up by 8% today. The company announced it is adding Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Checkout functionality to its ecommerce platform.

Ebix (EBIX) and Art Technology Group (ARTG) are both trading higher by 5%. Both stocks are still fighting to break into positive territory on a five-day basis.

GSI Commerce (GSIC) and CyberSource (CYBS) are ahead by 3% and 2% respectively, and are within -25% of new 52-week highs. Web.com Group (WWWW) is also up by 3%.

VeriSign (VRSN), the sector’s largest player at $3.6 billion, is a laggard today. Shares are up by 1%, but remain down by -16% over the last month.

As of this writing the E-Commerce Software Stocks Index is in the top-75 performing tickerspy Indexes over the last month, up by 8.1%.

Investors can follow the E-Commerce Software Stocks Index and view related performance charts and metrics at tickerspy.com.

Tags: CYBS, DRIV, EBIX, GOOG, GSIC, LPSN, N, VRSN, WWWW