Leave it to the buzz emanating from a trade show to raise the profile of
Internet stocks. As Summer Internet World enters its week long run here in
Chicago, we’ll bring you some of the notable companies on display and how they
may reshape the Webscape.
The past week with ISDEX, we’ve seen some long-ignored stocks run for the
roses. Egghead.com (NASDAQ:EGGS) continued its
climb after the firm revealed just how well its auction site was
doing.
As a longtime believer in EGGS, it was good to see the steam let
loose. We aren’t believers beyond $20 per share until more quarterly
results are known, however.
E*TRADE (NASDAQ:EGRP), which looked like a
passe play in the commodity-driven trading space, cut a $400 million deal
with Softbank. Suddenly it’s a new direction as financial info
service/trading. We think a large bank ought to take out EGRP now before
this one goes to the moon. The future of banking is at stake and E*TRADE
not only has a front row seat, the action involves it in our view.
Let’s look at the numbers, hot and not, and those simply hot and bothered:
ISDEX July 7 – 14
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ISDEX . | 14-Jul-98 | % change | |
The Internet Stock Index | close | from | |
07-Jul-98 | |||
ISDEX | 168.17 | 1.3% | |
ISDEX | 1,891.80 | -1.2% | |
NASDAQ | 1,968.41 | 3.2% | |
DJIA | 9,245.54 | 1.8% | |
Egghead.com | EGGS | $23.42 | 51% |
E*TRADE | EGRP | $30.56 | 34% |
WavePhore | WAVO | $14.44 | 33% |
Versant | VSNT | $5.50 | 29% |
Metricom | MCOM | $8.81 | 22% |
Open | OTEXF | $17.00 | 21% |
CheckPoint | CHKPF | $33.00 | 14% |
Broadband | BBTK | $4.88 | 11% |
America | AOL | $120.50 | 11% |
Mindspring | MSPG | $100.00 | 7% |
Security | SFNB | $18.06 | 6% |
RealNetworks | RNWK | $37.38 | 5% |
CMG | CMGI | $72.00 | 5% |
Intuit | INTU | $63.63 | 5% |
Cylink | CYLK | $12.19 | 4% |
Earthlink | ELNK | $74.13 | 4% |
Network | NETA | $50.63 | 4% |
Open | OMKT | $18.75 | 4% |
Axent | AXNT | $30.00 | 3% |
CheckFree | CKFR | $29.69 | 2% |
Verisign | VRSN | $42.75 | 1% |
Broadvision | BVSN | $25.50 | 0% |
Security | SDTI | $17.75 | -1% |
CyberCash | CYCH | $12.81 | -1% |
@Home | ATHM | $47.38 | -2% |
Yahoo! | YHOO | $186.50 | -2% |
Secure | SCUR | $10.44 | -3% |
Spyglass | SPYG | $11.63 | -3% |
CKS | CKSG | $21.69 | -4% |
USWeb | USWB | $25.13 | -5% |
PairGain | PAIR | $15.38 | -6% |
Mecklermedia | MECK | $24.50 | -6% |
VocalTec | VOCLF | $12.13 | -6% |
Amazon.Com | AMZN | $115.00 | -6% |
PSINet | PSIX | $13.88 | -7% |
Netscape | NSCP | $33.50 | -7% |
Concentric | CNCX | $34.50 | -7% |
N2K | NTKI | $20.69 | -7% |
Infoseek | SEEK | $32.38 | -8% |
Excite | XCIT | $88.19 | -8% |
NewsEdge | NEWZ | $12.25 | -8% |
Network | NSOL | $40.50 | -9% |
Cyberguard | CYBG | $9.00 | -10% |
Onsale | ONSL | $21.94 | -12% |
IDT | IDTC | $23.75 | -12% |
Sportsline | SPLN | $31.25 | -13% |
Doubleclick | DCLK | $52.81 | -15% |
Lycos | LCOS | $71.63 | -16% |
CDnow | CDNW | $19.50 | -16% |
CNET | CNWK | $52.94 | -20% |
TOTAL | 1,891.80 | -1% | |
SIMPLE AVERAGE | 37.84 | -1% | |
(c) Mecklermedia, Internet.com. www.isdex.com | |||
Notably, some of the more popular Web stocks and brands softened as
investors look for the next big thing. CNET (NASDAQ:CNWK) leads the top
losers with a 20% drop since July 7. CNET had a phenomenal rise after
announcing its deal with NBC to sell Snap!, and is up more than 79% year to
date, however.
Netscape (NASDAQ:NSCP) falls 7% to $33.50 after the glitz and glamor of it’s
possible media deal drove up its shares. When no big deals were
announced, Wall Street walked.
NewsEdge (NASDAQ:NEWZ) got a tout from analysts and media alike,
causing a big blip up July 14. NEWZ popped 36% to $12.25 per share. Its
model of selling news feeds to corporations and customizing content
generates more than $70 million annually, more revenue than PointCast, My
Yahoo or many other sites .
Our concern is that a subscriber model in the
era of “everything free Internet” may spell long-term disaster. Eyeballs
win eventually. Leverage matters.
If the product can be ultra clean and
customized to the umpteenth degree, then a pay model works. Corporations
don’t have time for surfing. So NewsEdge must stay on the cutting edge
rather than bleeding edge.
Thursday look for highlights from the floor at Summer Internet World and
our recap of our capital connections conference.
