The Forgotten Blue Chip Stock That's Been Quietly Compounding at 15%+ a Year
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By Anders Bylund – Apr 2, 2026 at 1:13PM ESTKey PointseBay has delivered a 15.8% annualized total return over the past decade, beating the S&P 500 by a small margin.The company's share count has dropped 62% since 2015 thanks to aggressive buybacksIts pending $12 billion acquisition of Etsy's Depop brings 56 million younger users to the platform.When investors think of e-commerce giants, eBay (EBAY +0.67%) rarely tops the list. The lack of fanfare hasn't stopped the online marketplace from beating the market in the long term, though. As of April 1, the 30-year-old company has been compounding at 14.3% annually over the last decade. Throw in a dividend policy yielding 1.5% annually and you get a total return of 15.8% per year. That's enough to outpace the S&P 500's (^GSPC 0.13%) 14.2% total return without ever trending on social media. EBAY Total Return Level data by YCharts The numbers behind the quiet compounder The company isn't trying to be everything to everyone. Unlike Amazon or Alibaba, it's not building enterprise-class artificial intelligence (AI) tools or same-day shipping networks. It's just connecting buyers and sellers of used sneakers, vintage watches, and rare Pokémon cards while steadily growing revenue. Meanwhile, the company's capital allocation has been shareholder-friendly. It returned approximately $3 billion to shareholders in 2025 through buybacks and dividends. And those buybacks make a big difference. eBay's share count is down by a staggering 62% since the end of 2015. eBay is deliberately prioritizing steady, predictable margins over boundless, expensive expansion. That might be exactly what you're looking for in a robust, long-term investment. ExpandNASDAQ: EBAYeBayToday's Change(0.67%) $0.62Current Price$93.75Key Data PointsMarket Cap$42BDay's Range$91.77 - $94.5352wk Range$58.71 - $101.15Volume170KAvg Vol5.3MGross Margin71.51%Dividend Yield1.27% Can the compounding continue? I can't promise that eBay's market-beating compounding will continue for another decade, but the setup looks promising. The pending $12 billion acquisition of Etsy's (ETSY +2.48%) Depop service brings millions of young buyers to a platform that desperately needed a demographic refresh, as nearly 90% of Depop's 56 million users are under 34. Excluding the incoming Depop pop, management guides for 2026 gross managed value (GMV) growth similar to last year's 6% increase. The risks are real but manageable. Europe is sluggish, trade policy keeps shifting, and some of the recent GMV gains came from people panic buying gold coins. But eBay isn't trying to conquer the world. It has a narrower ambition: to be the best place to find (or sell) rare or collectible items. That's a more defensible target. Image source: Getty Images. For long-term investors who want e-commerce exposure without betting on whether Amazon's next AI project will work out, eBay offers a boring stock that actually compounds. eBay's valuation is modest, the capital returns are consistent, and the business aligns with where consumer behavior is heading. eBay is where I sell my gently used computer parts while finding video camera lenses for my kid in film school. Thanks to the company's generous cash returns and the stock's quiet long-term gains, it may also be my next investment.Read NextMar 29, 2026 •By Parkev Tatevosian, CFA1 Undervalued Dividend Stock Investors Can Buy NowMar 12, 2026 •By Catherine BrockWho Owns eBay? Top eBay ShareholdersApr 2, 2026 •By Bram BerkowitzKalshi Now Places the Odds of a Recession in 2026 at 28%. 2 ETFs to Buy to Hedge Your Downside.Apr 2, 2026 •By Rick MunarrizDisney's OpenAI Investment Is Over. Here's Where the Company Is Focusing Its Efforts in 2026.Apr 2, 2026 •By Jennifer SaibilAmazon vs. Apple: Which Is the Better Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock to Buy Today?Apr 2, 2026 •By Leo SunIs Oklo the Smartest Investment You Can Make Today?About the AuthorAnders Bylund is a contributing Motley Fool media and technology analyst covering semiconductors, cloud computing, internet infrastructure, quantum computing, and streaming media. Previously, Anders was a systems administrator for Nielsen Technology and CSX, gaining hands-on experience with enterprise-class systems. He was also a freelance writer for Ars Technica, TIME, USA Today, CNN, WIRED, and AOL's Daily Finance. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s degree in library and information sciences from Florida State University. He believes in coyotes and time as an abstract.TMFZahrimX@TMFZahrimStocks MentionedeBayNASDAQ: EBAY$93.79(+0.71%)+$0.66S&P 500 IndexSNPINDEX: ^GSPC$6,565.79(-0.14%)-$9.53EtsyNYSE: ETSY$51.21(+2.48%)+$1.24*Average returns of all recommendations since inception. Cost basis and return based on previous market day close.