Net Sector Rally Still Has Legs
The
Nasdaq
tumbled at Thursday's opening but posted a triple-digit gain by the end of the day. It therefore stands to reason that the Nasdaq will close lower after rallying sharply at Friday morning's opening.
The stock market has behaved as irrationally as ever, but Thursday's rally in the face of strong economic data has given traders the green light to buy into tech Friday.
The Nasdaq was up 55.06, or 1.5%, at 3829.09, though it had traded as high as 3856.48. And when you consider that the Nasdaq had added more than 340 points from Thursday's early low, the temptation to take profits was too much for some traders. But counter that with those traders who missed out on Thursday's move and you have a market that should stay in the plus column through the day.
TheStreet.com Internet Sector
index was up 29.51, or 3.4%, at 886.48.
The great
Amazon.com
(AMZN) - Get Free Report
debate in
TheStreet.com
continued Friday. Our own Monster of the Midway,
Herb Greenberg
, gave his bearish
take on the online retailer in response to the bullish case our own
James Cramer
presented
Thursday. Read 'em both and make up your own mind. Friday, Amazon was up 1 1/2, or 3%, at 54 3/8.
Among other stocks in the news,
About.com
(BOUT) - Get Free Report
was up 9 1/8, or 31%, at 38 5/8 after besting quarterly estimates. About.com posted a first-quarter loss of 44 cents, besting Street estimates of a 58-cent loss.
Following the report,
W.R. Hambrecht
analyst Derek Brown upped revenue and earnings projections for About.com, reiterating a strong buy and a 150 price target. He wrote that at its closing levels from Thursday, About.com was trading at 5.2 times his 2000 gross profit estimate, while a broad group of comparable Internet companies was trading at 49.2 times 2000 gross profit estimates. W.R. Hambrecht has not done underwriting for About.com.
Also,
NetZero
(NZRO)
was up 1 7/16, or 12%, at 13 1/2 after reporting a loss of 24 cents a share vs. the 30-cent loss estimate for its fiscal third quarter. The company said that it added more than 1 million registered users in the March quarter, bringing its total registered-user base to more than 4 million. Of those 4 million, the company said that more than 1.8 million users accessed its service during March.
J.P. Morgan
had positive things to say about
Sycamore Networks
(SCMR)
and
CIENA
(CIEN) - Get Free Report
, reiterating a buy on both stocks, writing that the market's recent shakeout has created a buying opportunity "for those names that continue to execute and are expected to post solid quarterly results." J.P. Morgan has done underwriting for Sycamore, but not CIENA. Sycamore was up 12 7/16, or 19%, at 77 1/2, while CIENA was up 5 3/16, or 5%, at 130 1/4.
Among other strong performances early,
Lycos
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was up 4 7/8, or 12%, at 46 1/8;
Akamai
(AKAM) - Get Free Report
was up 10 3/8, or 12%, at 93 1/2; and
eToys
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was up 13/16, or 11%, at 7 15/16.
