Etsy price target raised to $55 from $50 at Bernstein

Bernstein raised the firm’s price target on Etsy (ETSY) to $55 from $50 and keeps a Market Perform rating on the shares. The firm notes Q2 offered a top-line beat, but was largely in-line on EBITDA. Declining gross merchandise sales is still a problem, but it’s been a while since the Street has taken up gross merchandise sales at Etsy. While buyside numbers had already moved higher to reflect better 3P data, the potential for this to be a turning point in the gross merchandise sales story is what matters most – and will dominate the debate from here, Bernstein argues. The firm walks away with a bit more optimism, but still have questions about the underlying drivers of improvement.