State and local tax authorities will now be able to charge and collect taxes for online transactions executed by their constituents after the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) reversed a 1992 ruling which excluded online transactions if the seller did not have a physical presence in the state. This ruling now puts online retailers and brick & mortar retailers on a level taxable playing field. The news pushed most Internet Retailers into the red, with short sellers up $184 million in mark-to-market profits on their short holdings.
Short interest in the U.S. Internet Retail Sector is $26 billion, the fourth most shorted sector behind Biotechnology ($41.0 billion), Internet Software & Services ($33.2 billion) and Semiconductors ($30.6 billion). Short exposure to the sector increased by $5.1 billion in 2018, up 24.4% for the year.
| Internet Retail
(in $ millions) |
Ticker | Short
Interest |
YTD
Change |
YTD %
Change |
YTD
MTM P/L |
June
MTM P/L |
Daily
MTM P/L |
| Amazon.com | AMZN | $8,523 | +$2,620 | +44.4% | -$3,045.7 | -$507.3 | +$83.0 |
| Netflix | NFLX | $8,215 | +$4,010 | +95.4% | -4,564.4 | -$1,288.5 | +$2.0 |
| Booking Hldgs | BKNG | $2,575 | +$48 | +1.9% | -$394.7 | +$28.0 | +$16.6 |
| Wayfair | W | $1,738 | +$918 | +111.8% | -$549.9 | -$348.8 | +$8.4 |
| Expedia | EXPE | $1,251 | -$116 | -8.5% | -$83.8 | -$33.4 | +$6.0 |
| TripAdvisor | TRIP | $1,234 | +$559 | +82.9% | -$486.4 | -$117.4 | +$20.7 |
| Shutterfly | SFLY | $437 | +$118 | +36.8% | -$223.9 | +$4.0 | +$9.5 |
| Overstock.com | OSTK | $332 | -$155 | -31.9% | +$156.2 | -$24.1 | +$22.6 |
| Qurate Retail | QRTEA | $272 | +$272 | +100.0% | +$39.7 | -$10.0 | +42.8 |
| Nutrisystem | NTRI | $268 | +$78 | +41.2% | +$51.9 | -$7.3 | +$2.6 |
| Etsy | ETSY | $247 | +$167 | +209.7% | -$107.3 | -$59.7 | +$6.6 |
| PetMed Express | PETS | $238 | +$29 | +13.8% | -$1.4 | -$47.9 | +$1.5 |
| Groupon | GRPN | $165 | -$46 | -21.8% | +$29.2 | +$10.7 | +7.7 |
| Duluth Hldgs | DLTH | $119 | +$28 | +30.9% | -$29.5 | -$29.3 | -$0.8 |
| Stitch Fix | SFIX | $90 | +$21 | +31.2% | -$20.0 | -$31.8 | -$6.4 |
| U.S. Internet Retail | $25,968 | +$5,094 | +24.4% | -$9,531.3 | -2,553.5 | +$183.6 |
Want deeper insight into the above analysis?
Contact: Ihor.Dusaniwsky@S3Partners.net
Managing Director Predictive Analytics, S3 Partners, LLC
For more information on S3’s reporting, data and analytics solutions, email us at sales@s3partners.net
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The information herein (some of which has been obtained from third party sources without verification) is believed by S3 Partners, LLC (“S3 Partners”) to be reliable and accurate. Neither S3 Partners nor any of its affiliates makes any representation as to the accuracy or completeness of the information herein or accepts liability arising from its use. Prior to making any decisions based on the information herein, you should determine, without reliance upon S3 Partners, the economic risks and merits, as well as the legal, tax, accounting and investment consequences, of such decisions.
