Tom Taulli

Yesterday, there was a strong rally in B2B stocks, showing that the doomsayers may be off-base. Evidence? It came from a legendary software company, Oracle . In the latest quarterly report, the company showed strong growth from its B2B solutions. One of the stocks that rallied was FreeMarkets . Actually, I visited the company several […]

No one denies Linux has a worldwide presence, representing a substantial portion of the server market. But the big question is: Can companies make money from Linux? In the sober investment environment, this is the question all companies must answer. And the answer must be very convincing. Of course, Linux software is free. So Linux […]

Think of Genuity as the forced IPO. Why? Because of regulatory circumstances, it must be spun-off from GTE. You see, GTE is merging with Bell Atlantic to create Verizon. In the deal, Genuity must go away. The offering is definitely huge, with 173.9 million shares planned. The price range is $12-$15 and the deal is […]

In late 1998, eBay’s stock had gone from an IPO price of $18 to a staggering $82.50. Crazy. Insane. Unsustainable. That’s what Barron’s thought. The title of the article was “Wall Street’s Love Affair with eBay Could Be a Fling, Not a Long-Term Romance.” After all, the stock had a market capitalization of $3.2 billion. […]

This week we had a small light show in the lackluster IPO skies. Light, but little heat, as the IPOs that came to market did not connect with the skies-the-limit traders. The best Nasdaq debut was on Wednesday’s when Rediff took the plunge. Its $12 opening price closed up at 19 5/16. It nearly doubled […]

What looks good for the IPO market this week? Reply : Take a look at Handspring. The company sells handheld devices. In fact, the company has a great advantage. Its founders, Jeff Hawkins and Donna Dubinsky, were the developers of the Palm technology. Handspring’s main product is called Visor. It is very similar to the […]

SAP is considered the Microsoft of Europe. The company was founded in 1972 by five IBM systems engineers. SAP is a world leader in so-called enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, with clients such as DuPont, Coca-Cola and even Microsoft. ERP manages a company’s HR, logistics, manufacturing, purchasing, inventory and finances (the back-end systems). However, with […]

The tech-stock filled Nasdaq Composite has taken a drubbing since its mid-April correction. As a result, IPOs have been postponed and canceled. Usually, such actions make investors feel that there is something that doesn’t “smell right” about the offering. But this is not always the case. Metawave Communications originally filed in July 1998 and actually […]

VarsityBooks.com is selling at near-death levels. Yet, it could hold some attraction to other etailers. Selling books on the Web. Suicidal, huh? Selling anything seems to be a bad idea. Well, there is a brave company called VarsityBooks.com that, yes, sells books on the Web. It even was able to go public recently. The NASDAQ […]

Once a cutting-edge business, Internet Service Providers (ISP) are looking like commodities. This makes sense. Look at the rush of free ISP providers, such as NetZero and FreeDSL.com (which offers free high-speed access). One of the pioneering ISPs is EarthLink . The company was founded by Sky Dayton, who started his ISP in a 200-square […]

Another Internet portal, are you kidding? We get tired of hearing about all of the new portals becoming available. Sure, we want options, but come on! Well, having said that, rediff.com India Ltd. is an Internet portal focusing on India and the global Indian community. Their competition is limited mostly to U.S. based portals like […]

Despite the nuclear winter for e-commerce, eToys was able to raise $100 million through a convertible stock and warrants offering. It should be enough money to allow the company to pay its bills for the next year or so. Not bad. The high on the stock was $86; now the stock is selling for $6-1/4 […]