Internet stocks showed comeback power since June 2 with ISDEX, The Internet Stock Index, gaining an impressive 7% compared to the broad market’s less than 2% posting.
Leading the turnaround for the group, which was headed south in early summer doldrums, was CNET (NASDAQ:CNWK) which unloaded Snap! off its balance sheet while it lets NBC pay to grow its equity in the Web directory service. The new sign on the door: “Snap is now an NBC property.” Or it certainly will be if NBC pursues its 60% rights, which some observers think could go further.
The bubbling media-Web space led to speculation and some discounted deal valuations in a handful of stocks in ISDEX, notably in content and navigation.
The numbers June 2–June 9:
| Mecklermedia’s | 09-Jun-98 | % change | Point change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ISDEX . | close | from | from | |
| The Internet Stock Index | 02-Jun-98 | 02-Jun-98 | ||
| ISDEX Geometric Avg. | 139.63 | 7.1% | 9.21 | |
| ISDEX Price Wtd. | 1,445.88 | 9.7% | 128.19 | |
| NASDAQ | 1,800.76 | 2.2% | 38.97 | |
| DJIA | 9,049.92 | 1.8% | 158.68 | |
| CNET | CNWK | $45.13 | 33% | $11.13 |
| Sportsline USA | SPLN | $29.63 | 30% | $6.88 |
| Network Solutions | NSOL | $43.63 | 25% | $8.69 |
| RealNetworks | RNWK | $26.38 | 22% | $4.72 |
| Mindspring | MSPG | $63.25 | 19% | $9.97 |
| Amazon.Com | AMZN | $51.25 | 17% | $7.56 |
| Doubleclick | DCLK | $37.00 | 17% | $5.25 |
| Earthlink Network | ELNK | $63.50 | 15% | $8.50 |
| Spyglass | SPYG | $10.94 | 15% | $1.44 |
| Concentric | CNCX | $25.88 | 15% | $3.38 |
| Excite | XCIT | $65.00 | 15% | $8.38 |
| PairGain | PAIR | $15.06 | 15% | $1.94 |
| America Online | AOL | $88.63 | 15% | $11.25 |
| Infoseek | SEEK | $27.25 | 14% | $3.44 |
| E*TRADE | EGRP | $23.44 | 14% | $2.94 |
| USWeb | USWB | $20.75 | 14% | $2.56 |
| Broadvision | BVSN | $17.38 | 13% | $2.06 |
| Yahoo! | YHOO | $117.88 | 12% | $13.06 |
| @Home Network | ATHM | $38.00 | 12% | $4.00 |
| CheckFree | CKFR | $25.06 | 11% | $2.53 |
| PSINet | PSIX | $11.19 | 10% | $1.03 |
| Onsale | ONSL | $26.25 | 9% | $2.25 |
| Netscape | NSCP | $24.19 | 8% | $1.81 |
| Open Market | OMKT | $17.25 | 8% | $1.28 |
| Network Associates | NETA | $43.88 | 8% | $3.25 |
| CMG Info | CMGI | $44.63 | 8% | $3.13 |
| IDT Corp | IDTC | $27.25 | 7% | $1.88 |
| Security First Net Bank | SFNB | $10.38 | 6% | $0.63 |
| CKS Group | CKSG | $21.25 | 6% | $1.13 |
| Egghead.com | EGGS | $7.81 | 5% | $0.38 |
| Cylink | CYLK | $10.56 | 5% | $0.50 |
| Mecklermedia | MECK | $21.00 | 4% | $0.81 |
| Cyberguard | CYBG | $12.31 | 4% | $0.44 |
| Axent | AXNT | $25.38 | 1% | $0.22 |
| CheckPoint Software | CHKPF | $28.50 | 0% | $0.13 |
| CDnow | CDNW | $17.31 | 0% | $0.06 |
| Versant Object Technologies | VSNT | $5.13 | 0% | $0.00 |
| WavePhore | WAVO | $12.19 | -1% | -$0.06 |
| Metricom | MCOM | $9.69 | -1% | -$0.06 |
| Broadband Technologies | BBTK | $5.56 | -1% | -$0.06 |
| Lycos | LCOS | $53.56 | -1% | -$0.78 |
| Intuit | INTU | $46.00 | -2% | -$0.81 |
| Verisign | VRSN | $27.38 | -3% | -$0.75 |
| Open Text | OTEXF | $16.81 | -3% | -$0.56 |
| Secure Computing | SCUR | $9.50 | -5% | -$0.50 |
| Security Dynamics | SDTI | $19.50 | -5% | -$1.03 |
| CyberCash | CYCH | $14.25 | -6% | -$0.94 |
| N2K | NTKI | $19.13 | -7% | -$1.38 |
| VocalTec | VOCLF | $12.44 | -20% | -$3.06 |
| NewsEdge | NEWZ | $10.63 | -21% | -$2.75 |
| TOTAL | 1,445.88 | 10% | 125.81 | |
| SIMPLE AVERAGE | 28.92 | 10% | 2.52 |
The news behind the moves:
- 98.06.08: AOL (NYSE:AOL) agrees to acquire Israel-based Mirabilis, maker of instant messaging product ICQ, for $287 million cash. ICQ is the pioneering instant messaging service/software for the Web that notifies users when friends and colleagues are on the Web at the same time and allows them to chat or exchange files in real-time. The deal values ICQ registered users at $23.92 each according to our analysis. AOL may also pay more based on growth targets in the next few years.
- 98.06.05: CMG Info (NASDAQ:CMGI) pops back up with a 14% gain to $39 per share after one of its portfolio investments, Engage Technologies, announces reaching 12 million Web user profiles. Another CMG investment, Lycos (NASDAQ:LCOS), prices its 2.25 million share offer at $50.00 per share. CMG, which owns 42% of LCOS, is selling 250,000 in that offer.
- 98.06.05: Network Solutions (NASDAQ:NSOL) soars 21% to $39.25 per share after a White House recommendation regarding domain name policy continues in the debate and wait stage. We said numerous times in the Internet Stock Report that momentum and inertia work in NSOL’s favor, and so they have.
- 98.06.04: Open Market (NASDAQ:OMKT), a leader in e-commerce software, receives an investment from chip king Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) which acquires 330,000 restricted shares that represents about a 1% stake, sending OMKT up 11% to $17.25 per share.
- 98.06.03: PairGain (NASDAQ:PAIR) gains on news that Rockwell debuts a new high-speed modems featuring PairGain’s DSL technology. The modems receive data at one meg per second and send at 128 kbps upstream (ISDN speeds) using standard telephone wires. Maybe DSL is about to deliver after all.
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