Stocks Lose Ground On Profit Taking

Internet stocks drop with the overall market as profit taking takes some off the top today. ISDEX loses 3% to 534.38 with more decliners than risers in the 50-stock index.

  • Ticketmaster-Citysearch (NASDAQ:TMCS) soars 17.8% to $40 1/16 per share on news it plans to acquire Microsoft’s Sidewalk local Web guide service for about $240 million in TMCS stock. Pro forma, Microsoft will own about 9% of TMCS or 13% fully-diluted with warrants.

    TMCS gains a foothold on MSN as local guide, plus WebTV. And now doesn’t have to outspend Microsoft on marketing. By the way, TMCS was one stock added to my hot list July 1.

  • AOL (NYSE:AOL) is reportedly in talks with German Deutsche Telecom to sell a minority stake to the European telco giant. I think a deal makes sense, especially in Europe where DT can leverage its network. Although I doubt AOL needs the cash.
  • DoubleClick (NASDAQ:DCLK) reported $44 million second-quarter revenue vs. $17.3 million 2Q last year. Net loss is in line with First Call estimates of $0.13 loss per share. I believe DoubleClick showed strong results despite its 40% sales relying on AltaVista, which is in a pending merger with CMGI. That contract is for 3 years to go, however, so the top line flow should continue from that partner. DoubleClick’s pending buys of Abacus and NetGravity also could help the firm consolidate itself in the new ad/marketing world where no other firm has yet assembled the pieces that Doubleclick has, in my view.
  • E*TRADE (NASDAQ:EGRP) shares drop 7.5% to $34 11/16 per share despite the Web-based brokerage boosting its second-quarter revenue 128% to $151.7 million. It processed 80,600 stock trades daily, up 15% sequentially. The Web-based brokerage loses $0.10 per share for its fiscal third quarter ending June 30 vs. $0.03 earnings per share 3Q last year. counts 1.2 million account holders.
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