Piper Sees ’09 E-Commerce Down 10 Percent; Online Ads Up 2 Percent
While I noted earlier his reduced estimates for both Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG), Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster today actually cut estimates on 33 Internet and online content companies, citing “the significant deterioration in the economic and consumer spending outlook.”
Munster says he expects the U.S. savings rate to increase significantly over the next few years, following 25 years of increasing leverage and a declining savings rate. The good news is that will allow households to rebuild savings, home equity and investment portfolios. The bad news is that it means less consumer spending.
“Nearly all drivers of consumer spending, including employment, employee earnings, consumer credit, household wealth and consumers’ propensity to save, are all moving in a direction to drive spending lower over the near-term,” he writes in a note.
