As the Q2 earnings season comes to a close, it’s time to take stock of this quarter’s best and worst performers in the online marketplace industry, including ACV Auctions (NYSE: ACVA) and its peers.

Marketplaces have existed for centuries. Where once it was a main street in a small town or a mall in the suburbs, sellers benefitted from proximity to one another because they could draw customers by offering convenience and selection. Today, a myriad of online marketplaces fulfill that same role, aggregating large customer bases, which attracts commission-paying sellers, generating flywheel scale effects that feed back into further customer acquisition.

The 14 online marketplace stocks we track reported a strong Q2. As a group, revenues beat analysts’ consensus estimates by 4.7% while next quarter’s revenue guidance was in line.

Thankfully, share prices of the companies have been resilient as they are up 6.4% on average since the latest earnings results.

Weakest Q2: ACV Auctions (NYSE: ACVA)

Founded in 2014, ACV Auctions (NASDAQ: ACVA) is an online auction marketplace for car dealers and wholesalers to buy and sell used cars.

ACV Auctions reported revenues of $193.7 million, up 20.6% year on year. This print fell short of analysts’ expectations by 1.2%. Overall, it was a softer quarter for the company with a significant miss of analysts’ number of marketplace units estimates and EBITDA guidance for next quarter missing analysts’ expectations significantly.

“We are pleased with our second quarter results, delivering record revenue and Adjusted EBITDA, despite challenging market conditions in the back half of the quarter. Results were driven by continued market share gains and strong adoption of our Marketplace Services. Our suite of dealer solutions gained further market traction, and we executed on initiatives to support our commercial wholesale strategy,” said George Chamoun, CEO of ACV.

ACV Auctions delivered the weakest performance against analyst estimates and weakest full-year guidance update of the whole group. The company reported 210,429 units sold, up 12.8% year on year. Unsurprisingly, the stock is down 14% since reporting and currently trades at $11.47.

Read our full report on ACV Auctions here, it’s free.

Best Q2: Shutterstock (NYSE: SSTK)

Originally featuring a library that included many of founder Jon Oringer’s photos, Shutterstock (NYSE: SSTK) is now a digital platform where customers can license and use hundreds of millions of pieces of content.

Shutterstock reported revenues of $267 million, up 21.3% year on year, outperforming analysts’ expectations by 7.5%. The business had a stunning quarter with an impressive beat of analysts’ EBITDA estimates and an impressive beat of analysts’ number of paid downloads estimates.

The market seems happy with the results as the stock is up 8.2% since reporting. It currently trades at $21.44.

Is now the time to buy Shutterstock? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it’s free.

Etsy (NASDAQ: ETSY)

Founded by a struggling amateur furniture maker Robert Kalin and his two friends, Etsy (NASDAQ: ETSY) is one of the world’s largest online marketplaces, focusing on handmade or vintage items.

Etsy reported revenues of $672.7 million, up 3.8% year on year, exceeding analysts’ expectations by 4.3%. Still, it was a mixed quarter as it posted a slight miss of analysts’ number of active buyers estimates.

Interestingly, the stock is up 3.7% since the results and currently trades at $62.50.

Read our full analysis of Etsy’s results here.

Instacart (NASDAQ: CART)

Powering more than one billion grocery orders since its founding, Instacart (NASDAQ: CART) is an online grocery shopping and delivery platform that partners with retailers to help customers shop from local stores through its app or website.

Instacart reported revenues of $914 million, up 11.1% year on year. This result surpassed analysts’ expectations by 2%. It was a very strong quarter as it also put up a solid beat of analysts’ EBITDA estimates.

The stock is down 10.3% since reporting and currently trades at $44.35.

Read our full, actionable report on Instacart here, it’s free.

CarGurus (NASDAQ: CARG)

Bringing transparency to a sometimes opaque process, CarGurus (NASDAQ: CARG) is a digital marketplace where auto dealers can connect with potential customers and where car buyers can browse, purchase, and obtain financing.

CarGurus reported revenues of $234 million, up 7% year on year. This number beat analysts’ expectations by 0.7%. More broadly, it was a satisfactory quarter as it also logged EBITDA guidance for next quarter exceeding analysts’ expectations but revenue guidance for next quarter missing analysts’ expectations significantly.

The company reported 33,095 users, up 5.6% year on year. The stock is up 2.5% since reporting and currently trades at $32.20.

Read our full, actionable report on CarGurus here, it’s free.

Market Update

As a result of the Fed’s rate hikes in 2022 and 2023, inflation has come down from frothy levels post-pandemic. The general rise in the price of goods and services is trending towards the Fed’s 2% goal as of late, which is good news. The higher rates that fought inflation also didn't slow economic activity enough to catalyze a recession. So far, soft landing. This, combined with recent rate cuts (half a percent in September 2024 and a quarter percent in November 2024) have led to strong stock market performance in 2024. The icing on the cake for 2024 returns was Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. Presidential Election in early November, sending major indices to all-time highs in the week following the election. Still, debates around the health of the economy and the impact of potential tariffs and corporate tax cuts remain, leaving much uncertainty around 2025.

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