The ISDEX Walking Wounded

On Tuesday, we looked at the top performers so far this year among stocks
listed in internet.com’s Internet Stock Index, noting that only 13 of the 50
ISDEX members have gained in share price.

By the time trading ended Tuesday, however, the number of ISDEX gainers had
been cut to six as 45 of the stocks listed in the index lost ground.

The biggest loser of the day among ISDEX stocks was network security
services provider ISS Group , which fell 17.5 percent, enough
to turn a 16 percent year-to-date (YTD) gain into a 4.4 percent loss.

But ISSX would need a bunch more days like that to descend to the nether
regions of the ISDEX, which feature nine companies which are down at least
70 percent this year.

The worst-performing ISDEX companies come from a variety of sectors, though
it’s no surprise that companies in the previously highly overvalued B2B
sector are well-represented, with two listed among the three biggest losers
of the year so far.

Here are the ISDEX stocks that have lost the most value in 2000:

1. Intraware ,
down 82 percent. No B2B company has been hit as hard by the spring
correction as Intraware, which runs a online research site and marketplace
for software. Shares appeared to hit bottom at $15 on April 14, but reached
a new low on Wednesday of 12 3/8. No evidence of a turnaround in sight. I
suppose this would be an inopportune time to mention that ITRA was one of my
HotWatch 2000 picks in January, but I flinch not from the bitter truth.
(Although I hasten to add that my list also included Inktomi and i2
Technologies, two of the best-performing Internet stocks of the YTD.)

2. eToys , down 78
percent. Always among the first stocks mentioned when talk turns to Internet
ticker meltdowns, and for good reason. Since reaching an all-time high of
$86 per share last Oct. 11, ETYS plunged as low as $4.50 on April 17;
that’s a 95 percent drop. As of Wednesday afternoon, ETYS was trading at
$5.78. The stock has shown signs of coming back, and eToys is banking a lot
on a $8 million summer marketing campaign to even out its quarterly revenue
flow and the introduction of non-toy product lines. With competitors such as
Toysmart closing shop and others such as Kbkids and Toysrus.com in disarray,
don’t count eToys out yet. But don’t count on a big ticker rebound anytime
soon.

3. Open Market ,
down 77 percent. After being written off last year as an early casualty in
the B2B wars, OMKT shares began a dizzying climb that took them from $12.63
last Oct. 18 to as high as $65.50 on March 9. By April 24, OMKT was down to
$7.88, and was trading Wednesday at $9.81. The former e-commerce software
market leader is trying to increase services revenues to make up for
shrinking market share. While its aggressive management team is trying
to learn from previous mistakes, the jury is still out on the company’s new
direction.

4. SportsLine.com ,
down 75 percent. This network of sports news and information
sites doubled revenues in Q1 to $22.8 million, but its reliance on
advertising dollars is growing. Ad sales represented 83 percent of revenue
in Q1, compared to 53 percent in the year-ago quarter. And barter deals
comprised 14 percent of revenue in Q1. Further, after two consecutive
quarters of profitability, SPLN slipped back into the red in Q1, posting a
28 cents per share loss. In terms of profit and revenue stream,
SportsLine.com is headed the wrong way.

5. GoTo.com , down 73
percent. The third of five companies listed that reached new lows on
Wednesday, “pay for placement” search engine GoTo.com was trading at $13.13,
or 86 percent belo

w its all-time high of $114.50 set last Nov. 15.
GoTo.com’s Q1 earnings report last month showed exactly what investors dont
want to see these days: increasing losses.

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