A wider market picture paints its way across Wall Street as earnings shortfall concerns and bond bondage emerges. While not quite medieval yet on Internet stocks the ISDEX drops 2.81% to 500.18. Among today’s moves:
Mindspring (NASDAQ:MSPG) is the subject of the latest merger bait speculation in the ISP sector as MSPG shares climb 4.45% to $82 1/8. The move follows Earthlink (NASDAQ:ELNK) which may merge with PC maker Gateway (NYSE:GTW). ELNK is up more than 25% on that buzz.
CMGI (NASDAQ:CMGI) confirms that it is in early discussions with Compaq (NYSE:CPQ) to acquire controlling interest in AltaVista. If this is a $3 billion deal then I believe it’s overpriced. AltaVista in my view may be more of a $1.5 billion to $2 billion entity.
QuePasa.com (NASDAQ:PASA) jumps from $12 to $21 3/8 per share on its IPO. The Latin American-focused Web guide sells 4 million shares at the top of its range. The debut may leave investors asking que pasa con el mercado. What’s up with the market?
I think the focus and niche of QuePasa.com helped it rise above the noise. Larger and better-known rival StarMedia (NASDAQ:STRM) off slightly at 0.50% to $49 5/8 per share.
