Research from Water Tower Research, Water Tower Research

Water Tower Research

Water Tower Research is a leading equity research firm that provides research on micro, small and mid cap companies.

Water Tower Research was founded by Wall Street veterans after witnessing a fundamental shift in the investment research industry with the result being a declining knowledge base among investors, a lack of awareness and a shrinking pool of fundamental research being conducted on companies across the small-cap and micro-cap spectrum. The same issues are now increasingly occurring in the mid-cap space. This sea change within the investment community is impacting not only the companies themselves but also current shareholders and potential investors. With significantly less active sell-side sponsorship by Wall Street, a substantial information gap has developed between companies and various constituents in the financial community. The net result is fewer channels for insight and information to flow between companies and investors.

Research from Water Tower Research

Equity Research Firm

Equity Bottom-Up

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<li>Etsy’s market is likely saturated. In a nutshell, that’s what the 4Q results suggest to us. On the call, the company stated ~75% of its gross merchandise sales (GMS) are from US-based buyers.</li>
<li>In the US, and much more so since COVID, awareness of what Etsy brings to the table has been especially high.</li>
<li>When we typically see increasing marketing costs, coupled with lower new buyer count and lower reactivated buyers as a percentage of an inactive base, those are signs of a market that is, at the very least, close to saturation, if it is not saturated already. </li>
</ul>


Etsy’s market is likely saturated. In a nutshell, that’s what the 4Q results suggest to us. On the call, the company stated ~75% of its gross merchandise sales (GMS) are from US-based buyers.
In the US, and much more so since COVID, awareness of what Etsy brings to the table has been especially high.
When we typically see increasing marketing costs, coupled with lower new buyer count and lower reactivated buyers as a percentage of an inactive base, those are signs of a market that is, at the very least, close to saturation, if it is not saturated already. 


Etsy, Inc. - 4Q Results in Line with Our Fears

Etsy Inc

Etsy, Inc. - 4Q Results in Line with Our Fears