Today, I am going to analyze the stock of Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRPN).
I am sure, like me, you've received emails from Groupon offering all kinds of special deals on meals, massages, auto detailing and so forth. It seems they come all the time and to be truthful, I have yet to take advantage of any of the deals Groupon offers.
I was curious and decided to look into the world of special offers from the other side of the table, so to speak. I checked with some of the merchants who are offering these deals or who have offered these deals in the past and asked if they would do it again. It seems that the experience, while novel at first, was not necessarily a positive one for all merchants. Many merchants found that people would respond to their offer, come once, and not return. So where is the upside if you're a merchant and you're selling at perhaps a breakeven price or loss? What's in it for them? Yes, you can chalk it up to advertising, but like any advertising if it doesn’t work for you, don’t go and do it again and again. I'm not sure if the Groupon model can continue if merchants begin looking at the numbers and deciding that this approach is not such a great deal anymore for them.
Let's take a look at the stock itself and see what it has been doing over the last couple of years. After dropping down to a low of around $3 in November of 2012, the stock moved steadily higher in a very optimistic and bullish climate in 2013. After hitting a high of just over $12.50 last September, the stock once again dropped below $9 before recovering to around $12 a share. Continue reading "Will Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRPN) Miss Earnings?"
