Cryptocurrency-friendly e-commerce giant Overstock (NASDAQ: OSTK) has seen the price of its shares surge so far this year, as traders who bet on OSTK are now up over 160%.
The beginning of the year wasn’t great for Overstock shareholders, as the firm started the year trading at $7.04 but faced the continuation of a downturn that saw it drop to a $2.67 low in mid-March, when COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization and all major U.S. stock market indices entered a bear market.
Since then, however, OSTK has been steadily rising, now trading at $18.9. Those who bought the company’s shares at the beginning of the year are now up nearly 170%, while those who bought it at its low are up a whopping 600%.
Source: Google
The e-commerce giant saw its share price surge after the company revealed sales had skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic, as customers started using e-commerce platforms more and more. Per CEO Jonathan Johnson, quarter-to-date retail sales went up 130% year-over-year, and the company shifted to a model where all of its employees are working from home.
Overstock has also seen new retail customer growth of 85% year-to-date. Overall, the company’s new customers are up 260% quarter to date. The category that’s best performing on its website is the home furnishing products one, with online penetration of 42%.
According to Overstock, as its sales went up the overall retail industry suffered a decline of roughly 30% over shelter-in-place orders. Looking forward, the e-commerce giant is looking to improve its mobile site, reduce logistics costs, and improve inventory management for faster delivery.
On May 19, the company will be distributing a digital preferred stock dividend, which will trade exclusively on its tZERO cryptocurrency trading platform. Investors will receive one security token per 10 OSTK shares held as of April 27.
Overstock’s former CEO, Patrick Byrne, was pro-cryptocurrency. In 2014, the company started accepting bitcoin payments, and in 2017 it started accepting payments in all cryptocurrencies.
Featured image via Unsplash.
