October 1, 2007 - Why eBay, Amazon Shares Are Up

Wall Street is re-evaluating how to measure growth at eBay Inc. and Amazon.com - and the change is helping to send the stocks of both companies higher. For years, analysts and investors routinely looked to numbers such as total auction listings and new users to gauge whether eBay and Amazon were growth companies. But some on Wall Street now have begun emphasizing other measures such as revenue generated per Internet user, operating margins and overall revenue growth. That means some analysts now are comparing eBay and Amazon with brick-and-mortar retailers rather than high-technology concerns.