A series of positive analyst comments and strong Media Metrix numbers had
Internet issues flying higher in Tuesday’s mid-day trading.
At midday, internet.com’s Internet Stock Index had gained 17.35, or
2.09 percent, to 846.01, the Nasdaq Composite had jumped 28.94 to 3812.81
and the Dow Jones industrial average was off 27.83 to 11116.44.
NBC Internet (NBCI)
was up 10-15/16 to 89-15/16. Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown initiated coverage of
the Web media company with a “strong buy” rating and $120 price target.
Disney Internet tracking stock, GO.com (GO) was
up 4-1/4 to 26-1/8. Schroders upgraded the stock to an “outperform
significantly” and attached a $33 price target.
Akamai Technologies (AKAM)
gained 12-1/4 by mid-day to 298-1/2. Road Runner will deploy Akamai’s
servers across its high-speed Internet access network.
CMGI (CMGI)
was up 21-5/8 to 243-13/16. Merrill Lynch analyst Henry Blodget started
coverage with a near-term “accumulate” and a long-term “buy” rating.
Media Metrix came out with its monthly Web ratings; important at such early
stages in the Internet’s evolution, these numbers give Internet stocks a lot
of their momentum.
According to the firm, total U.S. Web users increased
750,000 from 63.9 million in October to 64.6 million in November. The
percentage growth is better than the past four months, which averaged
240,000 Web users.
More importantly, there was evidence of strong growth in
average minutes and pageviews per user. These metrics have a large impact on
advertising and e-commerce dollars. Once again, It seems Internet investors
are riding the fourth quarter seasonal momentum that these Media Metrix
numbers seem to reinforce.
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