Analysts Strongly Endorse ChannelAdvisor After Quiet Period Ends

ChannelAdvisor Corporation (NYSE: ECOM) is rising after the so-called analyst quiet period after its initial public offering has ended. It turns out that most of the analysts were very positive in their ratings as they see upside to the company’s cloud-based solutions that allow retailers and manufacturers to manage and automate the selling process across multiple channels.

What we find so interesting is that after a strong IPO, ChannelAdvisor shares have traded lower almost each day. Friday’s closing stock price of $15.45 was the lowest close since its hot IPO when shares closed at $18.44 on the first day of trading. Friday’s drop was a five-day losing streak.

ChannelAdvisor’s last IPO registration showed that it had nearly 2,000 customers worldwide as of March 31, 2013. That customer base was shown to include 27% of the top 500 U.S. Internet retailers. In 2012, its customers processed over $3.5 billion in gross merchandise value through its platform. As of March 31, 2013, its customers were also said to have managed over 100 million stock-keeping units (SKUs) of inventory on its platform.

Here are the Wall Street analyst ratings we have seen from its underwriting syndicate group:

• Goldman Sachs (lead book-running manager) started coverage at Buy.
• Stifel Nicolaus (book-running manager) started coverage as Buy.
• Pacific Crest Securities (co-manager) started coverage with Outperform.
• Needham & Company (co-manager) started coverage at Buy.
• Raymond James & Associates (co-manager) started coverage at Outperform.

The IPO pricing came at $14 in May. ChannelAdvisor’s post-IPO trading range has been $15.31 to $19.77. Monday afternoon trading has shares up by 3.75% at $16.03 with just over two hours until the market closes.