When we said we were at the bottom it was nice to see the market agree today
as ISDEX pops 13% to 319.33, with the broad market also rising. All of the 50
stocks in ISDEX, the world’s leading Internet index, climb as buyers snap up
Internet stocks that had taken a 22% beating the past week as a group.
Three new issues debut today and soar: VerticalNet (NASDAQ:VERT), which
tripled from its $16 IPO price; Prodigy (NASDAQ:PRGY), which doubled from its
$15 IPO price; and Healtheon (NASDAQ:HLTH), which triples from its $8 IPO price.
Today’s snapshot:
| 11-Feb-99 | point change | % change | |
| ISDEX | 319.33 | 37.21 | 13.19% |
| NASDAQ | 2,405.55 | 96.05 | 4.16% |
| DJIA | 9,363.46 | 186.15 | 2.03% |
merger with USA Networks (NASDAQ:USAI) and Ticketmaster Online-Citysearch
(NASDAQ:TMCS), reversing its position after watching LCOS shares drop
dramatically after the deal was announced. CMGI owns 20% of LCOS and was its
original investor.
Internet Stock Report thinks that USA Networks should not be a 61% pro forma
owner of the combined entities. It is not clear to us that USA Networks provides
that much value to the overall merger. We believe Lycos and TicketMaster
Online-Citysearch combined are more valuable properties than USA Networks. While
we believe the $6.6 billion market value placed on LCOS in the deal was fair,
the 30% position of the combined firms it would own afterwards seems like a low
percentage for what it’s contributing: one of the largest Internet audiences on
the planet, almost on par with Yahoo in overall reach.
USA Networks does enjoy a huge revenue advantage though, owed to its
programming like Baywatch, which is watched by 1 billion people. However, in
this new Internet era what matters more in our opinion is Internet reach and
expertise over cable programming. We expect the deal to be recast in terms more
favorable to Lycos and Ticketmaster-Citysearch.
financial news to Compuserve.
service, according to Reuters and AOL’s SEC filing. The move underscores the
uncertainty that the year 2000 may have with computer systems. We remain
uncertain as to the full effect it could have on Internet companies, if any.
increasing its stake in the web sports content site. CBS now owns 18%, up from
12.5%. CBS needs a larger Web presence and has two outlets it’s associated with,
SportsLine and Marketwatch.
delivered to your email box each month! Last year’s 10 to watch from Steve
Harmon was up 300%. Will 1999 be a repeat? More info
click here
