Like January, the 18% gain internet.com’s Internet Stock Index attained in that month is now but a memory.
That’s what happens, though, when you go O for February, which is what the ISDEX has done so far. Other than Tuesday, when it merely held even, the ISDEX has been down every trading day this month.
Not surprisingly, given the Cisco effect, Wednesday was a particularly bad day as the ISDEX tumbled 4.2% to end the session at 368.6. For the year, the index has gained a modest 2.1%, behind the Nasdaq’s year-to-date rise of 5.6%.
Only four of the ISDEX’s 50 member stocks climbed on Wednesday, and two of those – handheld wireless device maker Palm , up 0.6%, and pay-for-position search site GoTo
, up 0.5%, – barely notched advances, while the lone big gainer, wireless infrastructure and content provider Infospace
, up 36.8%, was ending a nine-day streak of losses.
For the past week, or since Jan. 31, just two ISDEX stocks have risen: Web access provider Earthlink (9.0%) and security firm Internet Security Systems (2.9%). ELNK now leads all ISDEX stocks in the early part of 2001 with a 81.5% gain.
Now we’ll look at the more considerable downside. Networking equipment leader Cisco Systems (down 13.1%) was the ISDEX’s big loser Wednesday, one day after the company reported earnings that fell short of forecasts and warned of slower, or even negative, revenue growth for the next two quarters. At Wednesday’s closing price of $31.06, CSCO threatens to tumble below $30 for the first time since August 1999.
Several other ISDEX stocks were hot on CSCO’s heels Wednesday. Optical networking equipment maker Sycamore Networks fell 12.3%, while B2B software and services provider Art Technology Group, which got a boost less than two weeks ago when quarterly results topped estimates, gave back 12.1%.
Bad news continued to pummel Internet caching appliance maker CacheFlow, which dropped 10.6% Wednesday. CFLO is now the biggest YTD loser on the ISDEX, down 50%. On Tuesday the company announced it had missed earnings estimates for its third quarter and warned of more soft numbers in Q4. CFLO also said it would lay off 10% to 15% of its workforce, and that its CFO was resigning.
