New York, Feb 21, 2026, 10:18 EST — The market has closed.
- Etsy jumped 8.5% to finish Friday at $52.18.
- Etsy’s sale of Depop, plus a nod from analysts in the form of an upgrade, set the stage for the move.
- Investors size up a softer first-quarter sales forecast while holding out for a potential boost to margins.
Etsy Inc shares ended Friday with another strong gain, building on a two-day rally. Investors responded to the company’s move to offload its Depop fashion resale unit and its tempered outlook for the near term.
Etsy’s rally stands out, with the company working to stabilize its core marketplace following choppy demand. Investors are closely watching cost controls and marketing spend, hoping growth returns but not at the expense of margins.
The news drops as traders take another look at where consumers stand. On Friday, some tariff-exposed consumer stocks caught a bid after the U.S. Supreme Court tossed out sweeping tariffs, although what comes next remains anyone’s guess.
Etsy is unloading Depop to eBay for roughly $1.2 billion in cash, eyeing a close in the second quarter of 2026. The company picked up Depop for $1.63 billion in 2021, but lately it’s been narrowing its focus back to handmade and vintage — remember, it sold off Reverb last year too.
Etsy’s latest figures painted a mixed picture. Revenue for the fourth quarter landed at $881.6 million, slipping just under the $884.9 million Wall Street was looking for. Gross merchandise sales on the Etsy marketplace edged down 1% year over year on a currency-neutral basis, totaling $3.29 billion.
Etsy is looking for first-quarter GMS between $2.38 billion and $2.43 billion, a drop from $2.8 billion last year. The company is calling for only slight GMS growth in 2026. CFO Lanny Baker told analysts they’re working from the assumption that consumer spending holds “stable” at present levels. Reuters
Chief Executive Kruti Patel Goyal said in prepared remarks that Etsy is focusing on search, discovery, and marketing to boost relevance and engagement. Active buyers and sellers fell compared to a year ago.
Wall Street sentiment improved, with Barclays bumping Etsy up to “Overweight” from “Equal Weight” and lifting its price target to $72. The bank pointed to the Depop sale and steadier core marketplace trends as possible inflection points, though it still sees competition and macro uncertainty clouding the outlook. Investing.com
The risk hasn’t faded. Etsy’s first-quarter outlook points to a notable year-over-year slide in GMS, and softness in discretionary spending could drag results down to the lower end of its guidance—particularly if repeat purchases continue to slow.
There’s a competitive angle to the Depop deal too. eBay is grabbing a resale platform packed with Gen Z users—an asset Etsy once touted as a key to growth. How fast eBay folds Depop in may end up influencing how investors view Etsy’s “back to basics” strategy.
Come Monday, eyes turn to whether Etsy can hang onto its gains after the deal. Analysts are already picking through the company’s newest filings for any clues on strategy or capital returns.
Looking ahead, attention turns to the BEA’s next PCE inflation update, set for March 13 — a key macro factor for rate bets, and by extension, for consumer discretionary stocks like Etsy.
