Driven by several strong earnings reports, tech stocks in general – and Internet stocks in particular – continue to perform well in the early part of this new year.
Since we checked last week, the Nasdaq has climbed 6.6% to 2859, while internet.com’s Internet Stock Index, or ISDEX, has gained 15.7% to 454. For the year, the ISDEX is up an impressive 25.8%, more than doubling the Nasdaq’s 11.5% advance.
Granted, these healthy gains only get the Nasdaq and ISDEX back to mid-December levels. But after last year’s brutal pounding, I’ll take it for now, and I suspect most investors feel the same.
Further, with the prospect of another Fed interest-rate cut next week, more positive earnings surprises, and a new administration settled in Washington, I don’t see any reason why the markets will reverse course in the coming weeks.
Let’s look at the big movers in the ISDEX this week.
Tops is B2B e-commerce software provider Commerce One , which soared 58% in the week of trading ended Wednesday. A leading seller of software that allows companies to buy and sell goods online, CMRC last week increased its revenue forecast for the current quarter and fiscal year. Commerce One now expects Q1 sales of $205 million to $210 million and annual revenue of $900 million to $925 million. Previously CMRC said it forecast 2001 revenues of no more than $825 million.
Further, Commerce One’s Q4 report, showing revenue of $191.4 million and a net loss of $10.8 million, or 5 cents a share, beat street estimates of $175.8 million in sales and loss of 7 cents per share. The company predicts it will achieve profitability in the second quarter.
Openwave Systems , the company formed by last year’s merger of Phone.com and Software.com, rose 49% in the past week thanks to an unexpected Q2 profit. The maker of Internet-based communications infrastructure software and applications posted net income of $15.8 million, or 9 cents per share, on revenues of $109.7 million. Analysts had been calling for a net loss of 3 cents per share and revenues of $99.4 million.
Portal Software matched OPWV’s 49% gain for the week on the strength of a deal with Tellme Networks in which Tellme will use the business infrastructure sofware provider’s content management and billing platform for its voice application network. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but the market’s response was unequivocally positive.
Surprisingly, given its rather serious profit warning for coming quarters a couple of weeks ago, Internet portal Yahoo surged 42% in the past week. Chalk it up to short memories, true believers and bargain hunters.