Dangdang Hits Its Stride, Dang It!

After numerous false starts in its journey to market, e-commerce site Dangdang (NYSE: DANG) finally seems to have hit its stride and is showing no signs of fading, at least not based on its latest results and guidance for the first quarter. (results release) The company, forever an IPO wannabe until it finally took the plunge last year on the NYSE, posted strong growth in revenue and profit in 2010, with the exception of fourth-quarter profit which actually fell for unspecified reasons related to “promotional costs”. But overlooking that for now, the company is also forecasting 50 percent revenue growth in the first quarter. Unlike some other companies, Dangdang isn’t giving outlook for the full year, which is probably wise considering the volatile situation in China as Beijing tries to cool the economy. But for the most part, these guys seem to have gotten the formula right, and could well end up becoming China’s Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) and even challenging Alibaba Group’s Taobao, which has suffered a blow to its prestige recently after is Alibaba.com (HKEx: 1688) CEO resigned due to fraudulent vendor activities.

VERDICT: Dangdang looks like one of the best plays out there into China e-commerce right now