Net Stocks Finish Strong, and AOL Beats Estimates

America Online (AOL) became the latest Internet company to beat earnings estimates, and its numbers should allow the Net sector to continue tomorrow where it left off today.

The Internet service provider posted earnings of 15 cents a share for its fiscal first quarter, besting the 13-cent estimate from First Call/Thomson Financial and matching the whisper number. It compares with year-ago earnings of 4 cents a share. AOL reported net income of $184 million, compared with $50 million a year ago. Account growth of nearly 1.1 million was even above the 950,000 that analysts had anticipated. Ahead of the numbers, AOL closed up 5 1/16, or 4%, at 120 5/16.

Net stocks were in rally mode much of the day, buoyed by a strong earnings report Tuesday from Microsoft (MSFT) along with solid earnings numbers from a number of Net stocks. TheStreet.com Internet Sector index finished the day up 30.08, or 4.4%, at 709.52. Microsoft finished up 5 15/16, or 7%, at 92 1/4.

Net/Tech Indices INDEX CHANGE % VALUE TSC Internet 30.08 +4.4% 709.52 TSC E-Commerce 3.72 +3.8% 102.69 TSC E-Finance 3/4 +1.4% 56 1/2 Nasdaq 99.95 3.7% 2788.13

Among other bellwethers, eBay (EBAY) finished up 12 1/4, or 9%, at 145 7/8. On Tuesday, the online auctioneer began a high-end auction site called Great Collections. Yahoo! (YHOO) climbed 5 9/32, or 3%, at 180 5/32, and Amazon.com (AMZN) ended up 3 7/8, or 5%, at 80 1/2.

Venture capitalists were also on fire based on strength throughout the sector. Internet Capital Group (ICGE) ended up 8 5/8, or 9%, at 101 1/16, and CMGI (CMGI) finished up 5 1/2, or 6%, at 102 1/2.

Other companies that reported Tuesday ended the day with mixed results. Copper Mountain Networks (CMTN) closed down 4 7/32, or 4.6%, at 88 17/32, despite besting estimates. It also said 9.2 million shares that were in lock-up would become available next week.

RealNetworks (RNWK), which reported a profit for the first time, closed down 2 15/16, or 3%, at 100 7/16. The stock saw profit-taking after running up into the report.

Excite@Home (ATHM) matched earnings estimates, but investors cheered a 222,000 increase in subscribers in the quarter. It closed up 2 3/16, or 5%, at 42 13/16.

Web site designer Razorfish (RAZF) soared 11 7/16, or 22%, to 63 5/16 after beating earnings estimates by a penny.

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