Orbitz , one of the year’s most anticipated IPOs, landed with a thud on Wednesday.
The offering priced at $26 – above the expected $22-24 range – and opened at $30, but it was all downhill from there. By the end of the day, ORBZ closed at $24.98, below both the offering and opening prices.
The debut of the online travel reservations company stood in marked contrast to that of Chinese travel site Ctrip.com , which remains 30% above last week’s opening price and 80% above its offering price.
With a loss of $1.4 million on revenues of $172 million in the first nine months of the year, investors had doubts about awarding Orbitz a $1 billion valuation.
Also in IPO news, new Motorola CEO Ed Zander wasted no time making a splash, announcing a $2 billion chip spinoff.
Stocks were mixed during the day, with the Dow finishing at a new yearly high while the Nasdaq closed lower. Strong brokerage earnings and an optimistic survey of CEOs helped, while disappointing retail sales, a warning from Fed Ex , and SARS fears in Asia weighed on stocks.
The Nasdaq slipped 2 to 1921, the S&P 500 added 1 to 1076, and the Dow climbed 15 to 10,145. Volume declined to 1.41 billion shares on the NYSE, and 1.5 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led 19-13 on the NYSE, while decliners led 17-14 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 56% on the NYSE, and 38% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 250-11 on the NYSE, and 85-13 on the Nasdaq.
After the close, Jabil , 3Com
, Tibco
and Cognos
beat estimates.
During the day, Rambus plunged 14% on a delay in the company’s FTC case.
Netflix soared 13% after raising guidance.
University of Phoenix Online rose 3% ahead of earnings tomorrow morning.
E*Trade climbed 3% on better than expected guidance and a share buyback plan.
Monster slipped on plans for a $125 million marketing campaign.
WebEx edged higher on an acquisition, while VeriSign
slipped on its own acquisition plans.
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