As the U.S. gets in the turkey eating mood (or tofu for vegetarians) it’s
beginning to look like a banquet on Wall Street as ISDEX climbed 11% the
past week, led by the e-tail sector once again.
The top four gainers all sell stuff. Two of these stocks–Amazon
(NASDAQ:AMZN) and eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) looked ridiculously overvalued going
into the week but managed to gain 40% to 50% even so. Proof the greater
fool theory has been embraced.
And also there’s evidence that there’s a real lack of “known” e-tail stocks
to choose from, hence the sudden surge in a handful of other commerce firms
such as “nerdtailer” Egghead.com (NASDAQ:EGGS), and the music sellers CDnow
(NASDAQ:CDNW) and N2K (NASDAQ:NTKI).
Indeed, investors (or traders along for the ride) frowning on the
astronomical units needed to buy shares of eBay found solace in buying
shares of Onsale (NASDAQ:ONSL) which hit an all-time high of $50.25 per
share before ending the day up 51% yesterday to $43.875 per share. Fueling
the rocket? News the web auctioneer/e-tailer debuted a holiday shopping site.
Meanwhile, Beyond.com (NASDAQ:BYND) went a little beyond and raised $50
million via 7.25% interest converts which convert to equity at $18.34 per
share. The software e-tailer was cashed up from its June IPO but tapped the
market for the “get bigger, faster, and even bigger” nature of the Internet
e-tail. Wall Street rewards dominating leaders–something Beyond isn’t yet
but wants to be.
Here’s our crunching of the numbers, ISDEX gainers and painers for the
period November 17 – 24:
ISDEX ® | 24-Nov-98 | % change | Point change | |
The Internet Stock Index | close | from | from | |
www.isdex.com | 17-Nov-98 | 17-Nov-98 | ||
ISDEX | 230.15 | 11.0% | 22.80 | |
NASDAQ | 1,965.88 | 4.7% | 87.36 | |
DJIA | 9,301.15 | 3.5% | 314.87 | |
Onsale | ONSL | $43.88 | 92% | $21.00 |
Beyond.com | BYND | $26.38 | 60% | $9.94 |
eBay* | EBAY | $196.81 | 53% | $68.19 |
Amazon.Com | AMZN | $214.50 | 44% | $66.00 |
Broadvision | BVSN | $22.63 | 43% | $6.81 |
Broadcast.com* | BCST | $70.00 | 41% | $20.25 |
Netscape | NSCP | $39.88 | 36% | $10.63 |
Open Text | OTEXF | $18.88 | 35% | $4.88 |
Egghead.com | EGGS | $18.25 | 34% | $4.63 |
@Home Network | ATHM | $65.06 | 32% | $15.69 |
America Online | AOL | $91.38 | 21% | $16.00 |
CKS Group | CKSG | $32.00 | 20% | $5.38 |
Yahoo! | YHOO | $210.25 | 19% | $33.50 |
E*TRADE | EGRP | $26.75 | 19% | $4.25 |
Doubleclick | DCLK | $40.50 | 16% | $5.63 |
USWeb | USWB | $21.75 | 15% | $2.88 |
Security First Technologies | SONE | $19.25 | 13% | $2.25 |
CMG Info | CMGI | $83.00 | 12% | $8.63 |
CyberCash | CYCH | $12.13 | 11% | $1.25 |
Cisco | CSCO | $76.19 | 11% | $7.44 |
Verio* | VRIO | $17.88 | 10% | $1.69 |
Concentric | CNCX | $28.25 | 10% | $2.50 |
CDnow | CDNW | $14.50 | 9% | $1.25 |
Security Dynamics | SDTI | $11.88 | 9% | $1.00 |
Spyglass | SPYG | $19.00 | 7% | $1.25 |
Exodus* | EXDS | $36.25 | 7% | $2.31 |
N2K | NTKI | $11.38 | 5% | $0.56 |
CheckPoint Software | CHKPF | $30.88 | 5% | $1.50 |
VocalTec | VOCLF | $13.00 | 5% | $0.63 |
Inktomi* | INKT | $138.38 | 5% | $6.38 |
IDT Corp | IDTC | $18.75 | 3% | $0.56 |
Lycos | LCOS | $62.31 | 3% | $1.81 |
24/7 Media* | TFSM | $18.63 | 3% | $0.50 |
Mindspring | MSPG | $57.50 | 3% | $1.44 |
PSINet | PSIX | $18.13 | 1% | $0.25 |
Mecklermedia | MECK | $28.88 | 1% | $0.38 |
Broadcom* | BRCM | $89.38 | 1% | $0.56 |
Verisign* | VRSN | $37.25 | 0% | -$0.13 |
CNET | CNWK | $58.13 | -1% | -$0.88 |
Network Associates | NETA | $45.00 | -2% | -$0.94 |
Network Solutions | NSOL | $63.00 | -2% | -$1.50 |
ISS Group* | ISSX | $35.63 | -4% | -$1.50 |
RealNetworks | RNWK | $39.50 | -4% | -$1.75 |
Axent | AXNT | $23.06 | -4% | -$1.06 |
Earthlink Network | ELNK | $53.25 | -5% | -$2.81 |
Sportsline USA | SPLN | $15.38 | -6% | -$1.06 |
Excite | XCIT | $49.06 | -7% | -$3.63 |
Infoseek | SEEK | $33.00 | -8% | -$2.75 |
GeoCities* | GCTY | $38.56 | -10% | -$4.19 |
Open Market | OMKT | $6.81 | -13% | -$1.06 |
* change from IPO 1998 |
News behind the moves:
swap for Netscape (NASDAQ:NSCP). We target the revenue multiple at 6.8x
annualized or about 5x our estimated Netscape revenue for 1999. On a Web
site value-per-user basis the deal could be $268. The combined company
would generate about $4 billion revenue or trade about 11x annualized
revenue for the two of them.
AOL now owns the software platforms for the world’s largest online service
(AOL, 14M subscribers), the world’s largest instant chat service (ICQ, 21M
users) and once the deal goes through will own the world’s largest (though
waning) browser maker (Netscape, 60M users).
as retail investors start to believe strongly that it could be the “next
Yahoo.” We’ve been a doubter of EBAY valuation since day one but think that
now too much momentum, shortsellers, enthusiasts, combined with its market
leader status, may keep it in the top valuation arena for quite some time.
But maybe not forever. One hiccup and EBAY could be at the bottom of the
Bay. And auctions will be everywhere soon. Another way of looking at eBay
is as electronic classifieds. Doesn’t sound as sexy does it?
about, debuts a “new and improved” Web site that blends its e-tail, auction
and surplus sales into an easier to use front-end. As an early believer in
EGGS going back to the start of this year, we applaud Egghead’s move from
terrestrial-based heavy overhead bricks and mortar to “zero G” (zero
gravity, my term for the benefits and advantages of Internet commerce).
But Egghead’s new move to sell non-tech items doesn’t seem quite ready for
prime time. Its sporting goods yielded no results at all for “boxing” – a
very common sporting good. Nor was “jump rope” found in a search either. On
the Internet, having more items than a land-based store is paramount.
Egghead should probably stick to the tech stuff and home electronics before
debuting new offerings without a full product range supporting it.
AOL’s ICQ instant messaging platform. Inktomi’s search engine will power
the search for ICQ’s new interface debuting soon. ICQ reports an average of
4.8 million registrants use ICQ daily for about 69 minutes. About 700,000
simultaneous users are on during peak usage.
senior notes due 2008. The issue will help the ISP in its $267 million
acquisition of Hiway Technologies. Terms there: $176 million cash and 4.92
million VRIO shares.
as do shares of another recent IPO, theglobe.com (NASDAQ:TGLO) which rose
31% to $42 per share.
agreement with Disney acquiring 43% of SEEK for $430 million and Disney’s
interest in Starwave. The two have been planning a new Web guide/service
called “go.com” set to debut any day now. It will be first proof of “fruit”
from the Disney deal and one which we’ll watch closely to set the tone for
the future of SEEK shares.
Attention Internet Startups! LaunchPad West StartUp
Pavilion, part of Spring Internet World ’99, one of the world’s
largest Internet industry trade shows offers exhibit space for startups
ONLY at a reduced price in order to meet their often limited capital
available at the startup stage. Contact Sean Moriarty (hurry, space
limited): mailto:moriarty@mecklermedia.com
