Net Sector on the Rebound
Technology stocks were building on yesterday's late
recovery and pushing higher early today. The Internet sector was participating in the rebound.
TheStreet.com Internet Sector
index was up 41.61, or 5.5%, at 797.96, attempting to erase yesterday's 34.78-point loss.
TheStreet.com New Tech 30 was down 27.40, or 5.38%, at 481.99. The Nasdaq was up 133.03, or 3.82%, at 3615.51. Check out
Helene Meisler's
column on why her technical indicators show that the Nasdaq may have reached a short-term low, though she was still cautious in thinking a bottom had been reached.
Earnings continued to be the driving force in many Net stocks.
Akamai Technologies
(AKAM) - Get Akamai Technologies, Inc. Report
was up 1 7/8, or 2.5%, at 77 3/4, though it had traded as high as 82. There appeared to be some question as to whether the company did or didn't miss estimates. It reported a loss of 44 cents, which was 4 cents worse than the
First Call
estimate. But apparently, the company was disputing the First Call number, indicating that its survey of analysts showed a 45-cent loss estimate, according to a market source who could not be quoted.
Regardless, the company showed positive results, with revenue of $7.2 million exceeding market estimates of around $5.5 million. In addition, the company said that it was extending the lock-up period for its stock through the second-quarter reporting period. It was due to expire today.
Among other companies that reported since yesterday's close,
NBC Internet
TheStreet Recommends
(NBCI)
was up 1 1/16, or 5.9%, at 19 1/8. NBCI reported a loss of 67 cents a share versus the 72-cent loss estimate. But despite beating numbers,
Banc of America Securities
downgraded the stock to buy from strong buy. Banc of America has done underwriting for NBCI.
Banc of America analyst Stewart Halpern wrote that before he could advocate a more aggressive purchase of NBCI shares, "management needs to clarify the company's strategies regarding branding and increasing its rank among the leading portals." He lowered his price target on the stock to $50 from $110. He indicated that the decline was "based primarily on increasing the discounted rate we use in our discounted cash flow-driven valuation."
"We believe a higher discount rate is appropriate based on both the current market environment for content-driven Internet stocks, such as NBCI, as well as the widening in the valuation premium awarded to reach leaders
AOL
and
Yahoo!
relative to other leading portal stocks,
Lycos
,
go.com
and NBCI," Halpern wrote.
But
Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown
maintained a strong buy rating on NBCI, with a price target of $35. Analyst Lawrence Marcus wrote that, "While investor sentiment has clearly shifted in favor of profitable companies (NBCI down 77% for the year and Internet B2C composite group down 51%), we view solid top-line and metric growth in the seasonally slow 1Q00 as a positive for the company, all else being equal." Alex. Brown has done underwriting for NBCI.
Marcus added, "We continue to believe the company is well positioned in the Internet space with a large user base and a powerful traditional media partner and that the stock will outperform. Clearly there is need for the company to better define its strategic focus and long-term opportunity in the highly cluttered Internet portal space for the stock to regain momentum."
Finally,
GoTo.com
(GOTO)
was up 3, or 8.7%, at 37 1/2. The company reported a loss of 20 cents a share, far better than the Street estimate of 33 cents a share.
Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette
, an underwriter for GoTo.com, put out a positive note after the numbers, indicating that GoTo.com was continuing "to accelerate its path to profitability" and "the market will eventually start to pay attention to this fact."
