Sector Snap: Most Web Retailers Decline

The Web jewelry retailer's shares rose $1.17 to $50.23.

In a note to investors, Citi Investment Research analyst Mark S. Mahaney said comScore Inc. data indicated Nile's site had 595,000 unique visitors in March a 20 percent increase year over year. The company's unique visitors had declined 18 percent year-over-year in February.

"While Blue Nile's monthly traffic can be very volatile e.g. June '07 up 34 percent year over year, September '07 down 27 percent we view this as a positive datapoint, and we see slightly less risk to first-quarter estimates," he said.

Based on comScore data, he thinks Blue Nile may report slightly higher-than-anticipated unit volume for the quarter, but he also thinks general economic worries may pressure its average order sizes.

Mahaney rates the stock "Hold" with a $50 price target.

Meanwhile, shares of online retailer Amazon.com Inc. fell $2.17, or 2.9 percent, to $72.66, while online auctioneer eBay Inc. fell 96 cents, or 3 percent, to $31.

Thomas Weisel Partners analyst Christa Quarles raised her first-quarter revenue and EBITDA or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization estimates for eBay in a note to investors. The company is scheduled to give its quarterly report on Wednesday.

Quarles said her analysis of eBay listings data showed first-quarter global listings rose 11 percent year over year, with core U.S. listings coming in flat and international listings rising 20 percent.

She also expects the company to see a greater benefit from foreign exchange in the quarter due to dollar weakness.