Net Stocks Soar Higher After Rough Ride

Internet issues showed no signs of slowing down in the new millennium. A
number of analyst upgrades and positive comments from Merrill Lynch sent
business-to-business and infrastructure stocks higher.

Although Merrill
expects a first-quarter pull-back in business-to-consumer issues, the firm
remains very bullish on InfoSpace.com, Internet Capital Group,
HomeStore.com, Exodus, Amazon.com, Yahoo!, America Online and CMGI Inc.

internet.com’s Internet Stock Index rocketed 57.08, or 6.63 percent, to
917.43 the Nasdaq composite jumped 61.84 to 4131.15 and the Dow Jones
industrial average dropped 139.11 to 11357.51.

In the business-to-business sector, U.S. Interactive Inc. (USIT)
bolted 33-1/2 higher to 76-1/2. The company announced the promotion of James
Huser to Chief Operating Officer.

Shares of Internet Capital
Group
(ICGE)
rose 30 to 200. The B2B holding company holds a 3 percent stake in USIT.

Ask Jeeves (ASKJ)
surged 25-1/16 to 138. First Union Securities added ASKJ to its Analyst
Action List, labeling the natural-language search engine as their top
content pick for 2000. The firm has a “strong buy” rating on the stock and a
$230 price target.

CMGI Inc. (CMGI)
advanced 49-9/16 to 326-7/16, Goto.com
Inc.
(GOTO)
jumped 18-1/4 to 77 and Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO)
climbed 42-5/16 to 475.

A report from America Online Inc. (AOL)
that its holiday shopping sales more than doubled to $2.5 billion in 1999
helped e-commerce plays. Movers included Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN)
, up 13-1/4 to 89-3/8, and e-commerce software and infrastructure providers
Ariba Inc. (ARBA)
, up 14-3/8 to 191-3/4, and Broadvision
Inc.
(BVSN)
up 19-3/8 to 189-7/16.

Lycos Inc. (LCOS)
matured 5-43/64 to 85-15/64 and Fogdog
Inc.
(FOGD)
, soared 5-3/8 to 14-7/8. Thomas Wyman of J.P. Morgan Monday initiated
coverage on Fogdog with a “buy” rating and a $25 price target.

Pacific Internet Ltd. (PCNTF) gained 22-15/16 to 69-7/8. The Asian Internet company Monday announced
plans to appoint an Israeli representative to find possible investment
opportunities there.

Doubleclick Inc. (DCLK)
added 14-15/16 to 268. Morgan Stanley Dean Witter’s Michael Russell
initiated coverage Monday with an “outperform” rating and $300 price target.

Finally, Radware Ltd. (RDWR)
jumped 12-3/16 to 55-5/16. The maker of Internet server sof

tware Monday said
fourth-quarter revenue is expected to almost triple to $4.9 million. It also
expects to report its first profit during the period.

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