Liquidity Services Bids for Piece of Surplus Merchandise Auction Market

[mandy]

While eBay(Nasdaq: EBAY) is the dominant player in auctions, there are also a variety of strong competitors -- Loopnet(Nasdaq: LOOP), for example -- looking for a piece of the action. Another upstart is Liquidity Services(Nasdaq: LQDT), which reported fourth-quarter earnings this week. While the stock moved little on the news, the company's long-term growth looks promising.

In the fiscal fourth quarter, revenues surged 64% to $39.8 million. During this time, net income increased to $2.2 million, or $0.08 per share from $1.6 million, up from $0.07 per share in the same period a year ago.

Essentially, Liquidity Services is a Web-based auction for wholesale, surplus, and salvage assets -- done on an "as-is, where-is" basis. Sellers have access to a liquid market, where there is competitive bidding from professional buyers. As for buyers, they get a comprehensive selection and access to large-volume sellers. In other words, centralization should make for greater efficiency...

full article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16113164/