BGC Partners, a firm with roots dating back to 1945, has new confidence in eBay.  Today, BGC upgraded its outlook on eBay’s stock from hold to buy, and raised its price target by 25 percent, as well.

The new price target is $35, up from $28.  That’s not a huge vote of confidence, considering that eBay’s stock is currently trading at $27.77, but at least shows BGC doesn’t think eBay is stagnant.

Also, as reported by StreetInsider.com, a BGC analyst stated, "We are increasing our estimates for the December quarter and 2011 and are modestly above consensus.  Our call is more focused on 2011 although we expect possible EPS upside to our estimates for the December quarter."

The analyst reasoned, "With over $2B in mobile transaction value in 2010 compared to $600M in 2009, eBay is the leader in mobile ecommerce in our opinion.  With acquisitions such as Red Laser and Milo, and a strong suite of mobile applications that include an iPhone application with approximately 13 million downloads – the company is properly positioned to capture the benefit from the ongoing smartphone explosion."

eBay’s stock is up 0.27 percent so far today, by the way, which puts it ahead of the Dow (down 0.33 percent) and Nasdaq (down 0.21 percent).