Web-based retail, or etail as the word du jour goes, is the hottest sector of Internet stocks with a 24% gain in two weeks. Close behind are the etail enablers, those that make the ‘ka-ching’ happen behind the scenes. How does a 13% rise grab you?
Year to date enablers lead the pack through July 7 with 145% straight percent gain, beating the portals in returns.
It makes you wonder why mainstream media regurgitates portalmania as if that’s the last word in Internet stocks. Yes they’ve had digital hormone-induced growth. It’s time for a new story and plenty of Internet stocks to choose from, content being primary in our view as we believe it drives commerce. Here’s the stat fest, our latest abacus tweaking:
Mecklermedia’s | 07-Jul-98 | % change | Point change | |
ISDEX ® | close | from | from | |
The Internet Stock Index | 23-Jun-98 | 23-Jun-98 | ||
where Wall Street meets the Web | ||||
ISDEX Geometric Avg. | 166.02 | 10.0% | 15.14 | |
ISDEX Price Wtd. | 1,915.28 | 13.0% | 219.88 | |
NASDAQ | 1,908.11 | 3.4% | 63.54 | |
DJIA | 9,085.04 | 2.9% | 256.58 | |
CONTENT | ||||
CNET | CNWK | $66.13 | -2% | -$1.44 |
Sportsline USA | SPLN | $36.00 | 0% | $0.00 |
WavePhore | WAVO | $10.88 | -14% | -$1.75 |
Mecklermedia | MECK | $26.00 | 24% | $5.00 |
NewsEdge | NEWZ | $8.25 | -6% | -$5.13 |
TOTAL | $147.25 | -$3.31 | ||
WEIGHTED AVERAGE | $29.45 | 1% | -$0.66 | |
ACCESS/SERVICES | ||||
Earthlink Network | ELNK | $71.22 | -7% | -$5.16 |
Mindspring | MSPG | $93.25 | 19% | $14.88 |
PSINet | PSIX | $14.88 | 17% | $2.13 |
Concentric | CNCX | $37.13 | 38% | $10.13 |
Metricom | MCOM | $7.25 | -17% | -$1.50 |
TOTAL | $223.72 | $20.47 | ||
WEIGHTED AVERAGE | $44.74 | 10% | $4.09 | |
COMMERCE RETAILERS | ||||
Amazon.Com | AMZN | $122.13 | 32% | $29.44 |
N2K | NTKI | $22.31 | 21% | $3.81 |
Onsale | ONSL | $24.81 | -10% | -$2.69 |
CDnow | CDNW | $23.19 | 23% | $4.31 |
E*TRADE | EGRP | $22.88 | 8% | $1.75 |
Egghead.com | EGGS | $15.50 | 91% | $7.38 |
TOTAL | $230.81 | $44.00 | ||
WEIGHTED AVERAGE | $38.47 | 24% | $7.33 | |
COMMERCE ENABLERS | ||||
CMG Info | CMGI | $68.63 | 13% | $7.88 |
USWeb | USWB | $26.31 | 10% | $2.50 |
Network Solutions | NSOL | $44.38 | 0% | $0.00 |
Doubleclick | DCLK | $62.00 | 44% | $18.81 |
CheckFree | CKFR | $29.00 | 6% | $1.69 |
CyberCash | CYCH | $12.94 | -11% | -$1.56 |
CKS Group | CKSG | $22.50 | 8% | $1.75 |
TOTAL | $265.75 | $31.06 | ||
WEIGHTED AVERAGE | $37.96 | 13% | $4.44 | |
NAVIGATION/AGGREGATORS | ||||
Excite | XCIT | $96.25 | 16% | $13.50 |
Yahoo! | YHOO | $191.00 | 29% | $42.94 |
Lycos | LCOS | $85.00 | 24% | $16.25 |
America Online | AOL | $108.88 | 2% | $2.63 |
Intuit | INTU | $60.75 | 6% | $3.25 |
@Home Network | ATHM | $48.38 | 23% | $9.13 |
Infoseek | SEEK | $35.31 | 16% | $4.88 |
TOTAL | $625.56 | $92.56 | ||
WEIGHTED AVERAGE | $89.37 | 17% | $13.22 | |
SOFTWARE | ||||
RealNetworks | RNWK | $35.50 | -1% | -$0.50 |
Broadvision | BVSN | $25.63 | 32% | $6.19 |
Open Market | OMKT | $18.06 | 0% | -$0.06 |
Spyglass | SPYG | $12.00 | 4% | $0.50 |
Netscape | NSCP | $36.00 | 37% | $9.81 |
Open Text | OTEXF | $14.00 | -8% | -$1.19 |
Versant Object Technologies | VSNT | $4.25 | -3% | -$0.13 |
TOTAL | $145.44 | $14.63 | ||
WEIGHTED AVERAGE | $20.78 | 11% | $2.09 | |
SECURITY | ||||
Verisign | VRSN | $42.25 | 10% | $4.00 |
Cylink | CYLK | $11.69 | 12% | $1.25 |
Network Associates | NETA | $48.75 | 8% | $3.44 |
Axent | AXNT | $29.00 | -1% | -$0.38 |
Cyberguard | CYBG | $10.00 | 13% | $1.13 |
Security First Net Bank | SFNB | $17.00 | 62% | $6.50 |
Secure Computing | SCUR | $10.75 | 19% | $1.75 |
CheckPoint Software | CHKPF | $29.00 | 1% | $0.38 |
Security Dynamics | SDTI | $17.88 | 5% | $0.78 |
TOTAL | $216.31 | $18.84 | ||
WEIGHTED AVERAGE | $24.03 | 10% | $2.09 | |
IP COMMUNICATIONS | ||||
IDT Corp | IDTC | $26.88 | -4% | -$1.13 |
VocalTec | VOCLF | $12.88 | 11% | $1.25 |
TOTAL | $39.75 | $0.13 | ||
WEIGHTED AVERAGE | $19.88 | 0% | $0.06 | |
HIGH-SPEED SOLUTIONS | ||||
PairGain | PAIR | $16.31 | -15% | -$2.81 |
Broadband Technologies | BBTK | $4.38 | -7% | -$0.31 |
TOTAL | $20.69 | -$3.13 | ||
WEIGHTED AVERAGE | $10.34 | -13% | -$1.56 | |
OVERALL TOTAL | 4,145.59 | 13% | 461.61 | |
SIMPLE AVERAGE | 60.96 | 13% | 6.79 |
Despite the jump MSPG market capitalization lags behind its rival Earthlink (NASDAQ:ELNK) by about $50 million so the gain was probably long overdue anyway in our opinion. Most of the buying was small lots, indicating retail investors who may be under the false assumption that more shares = more value or bang for the buck. Said another way: 1 divided by 3 = 1, unless those smaller pieces can grow.
