What do you get when you combine irrational exuburance with thumb-twitching
Web-based trading cowboys? Third quarter for Internet stocks, more wild
than Bill Gates at a Spice Girls concert.
As the hammer slammed, modems whirred, the last trades of a volatile third
quarter for stocks in general closed September 30, and left ISDEX down 33%
as an average, but off a more mild 4%, counting the closing prices for
September 30 vs. June 30.
Third quarter also saw the tech-laden NASDAQ
fall 11% while the Dow dropped 12%.
Amid the hustle and bustle, pops and
drops however, a handful of Internet stocks handily beat the market’s blue
mood and posted triple-digit percent gains.
The best performing Internet stock for third quarter (drum roll please) is
Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), up an amazing 124% since June 30.
Runner-up also
at 124%: Broadcast.com (NASDAQ:BCST), which we tally from its IPO price of
$18 in July.
AOL (NYSE:AOL), Inktomi (NASDAQ:INKT), and Yahoo!
(NASDAQ:YHOO), round out the top five honors for third quarter. Check the
abacus-tweaking stats here:
| Third Quarter – Who’s Hot, Who’s Not In Internet Stocks:
| |||||
| ISDEX . | 30-Sep-98 | % change | Point | % change | |
The | close | from | from | from | |
www.isdex.com | 30-Jun-98 | 30-Jun-98 | 31-Dec-97 | ||
or from IPO** | or from | or from | |||
ISDEX Geometric | 106.43 | -32.8% | -51.91 | 6.6% | |
ISDEX | 1,504.31 | -3.8% | -59.04 | 68.4% | |
NASDAQ | 1,693.84 | -10.6% | -200.90 | 7.9% | |
DJIA | 7,842.62 | -12.4% | -1,109.40 | -0.8% | |
Broadcast.com** | BCST | $40.38 | 124% | $22.38 | 124% |
Amazon.Com | AMZN | $111.63 | 124% | $61.75 | 271% |
America Online | AOL | $111.63 | 112% | $59.06 | 147% |
Inktomi* | INKT | $75.25 | 89% | $35.50 | 318% |
Yahoo! | YHOO | $129.50 | 64% | $50.75 | 274% |
GeoCities** | GCTY | $23.25 | 37% | $6.25 | 37% |
CKS Group | CKSG | $17.69 | 22% | $3.19 | 25% |
Mindspring | MSPG | $41.50 | 21% | $7.21 | 270% |
Spyglass | SPYG | $12.75 | 11% | $1.31 | 158% |
Earthlink | ELNK | $41.25 | 7% | $2.88 | 220% |
PSINet | PSIX | $13.94 | 7% | $0.94 | 172% |
@Home Network | ATHM | $47.88 | 1% | $0.56 | 91% |
Security First | SFNB | $14.88 | 0% | -$0.06 | 105% |
Verio* | VRIO | $24.75 | -1% | -$0.13 | 8% |
Secure | SCUR | $9.81 | -1% | -$0.06 | -17% |
Broadcom* | BRCM | $71.00 | -4% | -$2.63 | 196% |
RealNetworks | RNWK | $34.69 | -7% | -$2.63 | 150% |
Network | NSOL | $41.63 | -8% | -$3.38 | 217% |
Lycos | LCOS | $33.81 | -10% | -$3.88 | 63% |
Open Text | OTEXF | $13.44 | -10% | -$1.56 | 0% |
Mecklermedia | MECK | $19.63 | -12% | -$2.75 | -21% |
Excite | XCIT | $40.81 | -13% | -$5.94 | 172% |
Egghead.com | EGGS | $7.25 | -14% | -$1.19 | 12% |
ISS Group* | ISSX | $31.88 | -15% | -$5.75 | 45% |
E*TRADE | EGRP | $18.69 | -19% | -$4.25 | -19% |
Netscape | NSCP | $21.88 | -19% | -$5.19 | -10% |
CyberCash | CYCH | $9.44 | -23% | -$2.75 | -26% |
24/7 Media** | TFSM | $10.75 | -23% | -$3.25 | -23% |
IDT Corp | IDTC | $23.00 | -23% | -$7.06 | 14% |
CMG Info | CMGI | $53.25 | -25% | -$17.50 | 252% |
VocalTec | VOCLF | $8.25 | -26% | -$2.88 | -60% |
Network | NETA | $35.50 | -26% | -$12.38 | -33% |
Verisign* | VRSN | $27.25 | -27% | -$10.13 | 95% |
Concentric | CNCX | $21.00 | -30% | -$9.13 | 137% |
Infoseek | SEEK | $24.63 | -31% | -$11.25 | 129% |
Onsale | ONSL | $16.69 | -33% | -$8.06 | -7% |
CNET | CNWK | $45.75 | -33% | -$22.50 | 202% |
Security | SDTI | $11.94 | -35% | -$6.56 | -67% |
Axent | AXNT | $18.63 | -39% | -$12.00 | 8% |
CheckPoint | CHKPF | $19.88 | -39% | -$12.88 | -51% |
Open Market | OMKT | $11.25 | -40% | -$7.63 | 17% |
USWeb | USWB | $13.06 | -45% | -$10.63 | 39% |
WavePhore | WAVO | $6.38 | -45% | -$5.19 | -32% |
Exodus* | EXDS | $24.38 | -46% | -$20.38 | 63% |
Doubleclick | DCLK | $23.88 | -52% | -$25.81 | 40% |
Sportsline USA | SPLN | $17.44 | -52% | -$19.13 | 62% |
CDnow | CDNW | $9.00 | -55% | -$11.13 | -44% |
Broadvision | BVSN | $10.56 | -56% | -$13.31 | 63% |
Cylink | CYLK | $4.50 | -63% | -$7.50 | -54% |
N2K | NTKI | $7.19 | -63% | -$12.44 | -51% |
* change from | |||||
TOTAL | 1,504.31 | -4% | -59.04 | 68% | |
SIMPLE | 30.09 | -4% | -1.18 | 68% | |
| **=IPO after 6/30/98; *=IPO after 12/31/97 (c) 1998 Mecklermedia (NASDAQ:MECK) | |||||
Fully 13 of the 50 ISDEX stocks came out in positive territory in the third
quarter, a period in which the market met its maker in many
ways.
Rollercoaster fans will appreciate the ride if they stop and
consider ISDEX went from 178 to 80 in just over a month.
Some of the more notable gyrations came in 3Q, as July 21 ISDEX stood at
178.58, just 7
points off its all-time high. By September 30, ISDEX was down 40% led by
irrational exuberance gone awry. ISDEX dipped to a shade above 80 on
September 1, but bounced back 32% to close September 30 at 106.43.
That kind of nitroglycerine is anything but fundamental and based mostly on
the
emotions of the market. One day Internet stocks walk on water and the next
they feel like lead shoes.
In the bigger picture, 34 of the 50 ISDEX
stocks were on the rise if we look at year to date stats. Translation: more
bear than bull for third quarter, but more bull then bear overall this year.
On a price-weighted basis, ISDEX was up 68% since 12/31 (or IPO for those
stocks public after 12/31). ISDEX geometric average (which smooths out the
weighting evenly among all the stocks) showed a 6.6% rise.
Inktomi holds first place in best percentage run in the ISDEX, with a 318%
rise since its June IPO. Of Internet stocks trading the full year, Yahoo!
fared best, up 274% since December 31, 1997.
Inktomi has become the cache
flow machine for a bevy of services including AOL and Microsoft, both of
which use its network caching software to effectively “speed” up file
delivery for popular files on the Web. Its search engine/indexer also
locked in several high-profile licensees including the two mentioned for
caching and Yahoo!
Wired’s HotBot was the first to see the value in
Inktomi’s search product and has used it for more than two years now. Only
recently, in the past week, has Wired Digital (now spun off from its
magazine sister) announced that it, too, will be a portal.
For an historical look at Wired’s initial public offering plans see the almost
classic ISR of
May 8, 1996. For more third-quarter moves and news for each of these
stocks in ISDEX please search the Archives
or see InternetNews.com.
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