Another Day, Another DOT Record as Net Stocks Surge Again

Foundry Networks, Internet Capital Group and CMGI were standouts today.

Author:: David Shabelman
Publish date:: Dec 13, 1999 5:18 PM EST

There's no sense in trying to explain the madness that drives the Internet sector. It continues to feed on itself like some mutant organism.

Despite a soft bond market, a downgrade of

Intel

(INTC) - Get Report

, disappointment with a merger in the sector and a temptation to take profits, Internet stocks continued to flourish.

TheStreet.com Internet Sector

index finished up 24.51, or 2.2%, at 1154.01, the seventh consecutive session it has reached an all-time high close.

As usual, there were a number of standouts, including

Foundry Networks

(FDRY)

, which closed up 26 1/4, or 9.5%, at 304 for no other reason than the company announced a 2-for-1 stock split on Friday. And sticking with the split theme,

Internet Capital Group

(ICGE)

closed up 22 1/2, or 20%, at 135 on the first day it traded at a post-split price.

CMGI

(CMGI)

, which is expected to report financial results on Wednesday, ended up 17 9/16, or 9%, at 211 5/8.

CheckFree Holdings

(CKFR)

finished up 14 3/16, or 17%, at 96 5/16 on news of an expanded relationship with

Yahoo!

(YHOO)

. And

Inktomi

(INKT)

ended up 10 1/2, or 6%, at 178 1/45 on news that

Microsoft

(MSFT) - Get Report

would incorporate Inktomi search engines into a number of its properties.

But a number of Net issues slipped on profit-taking, including both Yahoo! and

Amazon.com

(AMZN) - Get Report

, both of which reached all-time high closes on Friday. Yahoo! finished down 2 7/16, or 1%, at 351 1/16, while Amazon ended off 4 3/16, or 4%, at 102 1/2. Also,

RealNetworks

(RNWK) - Get Report

, which gained around 19 on Friday following an announcement of new technology, finished down 13 5/8, or 8%, at 164 1/8 today.

The other big story in the Net sector today revolved around investors' disappointment in a high-profile merger. Internet consulting firms

USWeb/CKS

(USWB)

and

Whittman-Hart

(WHIT)

agreed today to merge in a deal valued at around $8 billion.

TheStreet.com/NYTimes.com

joint newsroom examined the deal in an earlier