Internet stocks finished up strongly Thursday thanks to strong earnings by Yahoo!, although the ISDEX lost about half its gains by the end of trading.
internet.com’s Internet Stock Index rose 13.02, or 2.31 percent, to 576.39, the Nasdaq Composite inched up 2.97 to 2,860.18 and the Dow Jones industrial average was down 48.44 to 10,539.90.
Yahoo! (YHOO) surged 14-1/2 to 190-1/2. The search engine reported a pro-forma third-quarter profit of 14 cents a share late Wednesday, trouncing analyst estimates of 9 cents.
There were rumors of a merger between the online advertising networks of DoubleClick and 24/7 Media. Doubleclick (DCLK) rose 1-5/8 to 131-7/8 and 24/7 Media (TFSM) fell 3-1/4 to 40-1/2.
Excite@Home Corp. (ATHM) was up 1-1/4 to 48-1/16 and America Online Inc. (AOL) fell 1-5/16 to 118-11/16.
AOL Chairman Steve Case, whose company has been rumored for several weeks to be interested in buying the service, said Thursday the company has a “continuing dialogue” with Excite@Home. He said the two have been unable to agree on the scope any deal should take, although he was determined to be patient while the two sides work out their differences.
Online auctioneer uBid (UBID) rocketed 7-15/16 to 40-9/16. The company signed a deal with Go Network to run the auctions on its portal.
As for the Net leaders, Amazon.com Corp. (AMZN) was up 4-7/8 to 87-5/16, Broadvision Corp. (BVSN) had climbed 2-3/4 to 163-3/4, and CMGI (CMGI) was up 7-15/16 to 113-5/8.
Online brokers were also broadly higher. E*Trade Group Inc. (EGRP) was up 1-17/32 to 27-27/32, Ameritrade Holding Corp. (AMTD) was up 15/16 to 20-13/16 and National Discount Brokers Group Inc. (NDB) had gained 1 to 27.
On the IPO front,
Calico Commerce (CLIC)
surged 42 to 56. The company, which develops sophisticated e-commerce solutions, sold 6.5 million shares at $14. The lead underwriter was Goldman Sachs.
PlanetRx (PLRX) soared 9-5/16 to 25-5/16. The company, which sells pharmaceuticals over the Web, sold 6 million shares at $16. The lead underwriter was Goldman Sachs.
Also on the IPO front, online grocer Webvan announced Thursday it is delaying its IPO because of SEC inquiries. Webvan is an online grocer.
Jupiter Communications, the market research firm that specializes on the Web, raised its price range from $15-$17 to $18-$20. The lead underwriter is Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette.
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