Lackluster Net Sector Reflects Investor Ambivalence

A lackluster opening is about what you'd expect from a market that can't seem to make up its mind what to do. Internet stocks were mixed early on, with little to suggest that things will change anytime soon.

TheStreet.com Internet Sector

index was down 6.92, or 0.76% to 906.66 in early trading. The

Nasdaq

was down 12.17, or 0.33%, to 3632.79.

The morning after the morning after was a better one for

Lycos

(LCOS)

and

Terra Networks

(TRRA)

. Both were rallying after dropping sharply yesterday, a day after their merger was announced.

TSC

columnist

Jim Seymour

took an in-depth look at how the merger shapes up for investors in an earlier

piece.

Lycos was up 7 25/64, or 13%, to 65, while Terra was up 1 3/4, or 4%, to 48 3/4. Helping out were a couple of positive research notes.

UBS Warburg

wrote that yesterday's $15 selloff in Lycos "was overdone," considering that Lycos shareholders will still get $97.55 per share in Terra stock. Analyst Michael Wallace wrote that he expected Lycos to bounce from current levels and the spread should close.

And

Chase H&Q

analyst Paul Noglows wrote that the merger was attractive for shareholders who wanted to take a profit, pointing out that it was more than double the offer

USA Networks

(USAI) - Get Report

made for Lycos last year. Also, he suggested the offer was attractive for shareholders that "want to invest long term in the rapidly unfolding global Internet market." Note that Chase H&Q has done underwriting for Lycos.

Pushed to the background was Lycos' earnings report for its fiscal third quarter, which came out after the close yesterday. Lycos reported a gain of 7 cents a share, topping the 5-cent estimate, and up from the year-ago loss of a penny. Revenue for the quarter came in at $78.6 million, a 120% increase from last year's $35.8 million.

Elsewhere,

Deutsche Bank

(DTBKY)

said it will acquire a 19.3% stake in

National Discount Brokers

(NDB)

to create jointly owned online brokerage capabilities outside the U.S. Deutsche Bank will buy 3 million shares of NDB's common stock at $45.31 a share, an 81% premium over its closing price on Wednesday. NDB was up 4 9/16, or 19%, to 29 1/16.

Among other stocks in the news,

Yahoo!

(YHOO)

was down 2 1/16, or 1.5%, to 135 3/4. The company will be holding an analysts' day today.

Phone.com

(PHCM)

, which also is holding an analysts' day today, was faring better, up 5 23/64, or 6.4%, to 88 55/64. Finally,

Sycamore Networks

(SCMR)

was up 3 3/4, or 4.3%, to 90 1/4 in front of its quarterly report after the close.