Net Companies Move Beyond Survival Mode

Maybe the death of the Internet stock sector has saved the Internet stock sector.

A year ago, Internet stocks were near-pariahs, still suffering from guilt-by-association with the late-'90s bubble and dismissed as overpriced despite their precipitous declines.

Now they're one of the hottest groups of stocks on the market, with many pushing 52-week highs -- sparking a new debate across Wall Street over whether this is a bubble as well.

Why are so many net stocks doing well? Why, for example, has online broker AmeriTrade (AMTD Quote) more than tripled over the past year, going from $2.95 to $9.82? Why has eBay (EBAY Quote) doubled, and why have Yahoo! (YHOO Quote) and Amazon.com (AMZN Quote) more than tripled? ...