Post-Split eBay Locked in Investor Bidding War

Shares of uBid and Amazon.com climbed in sync.

Author:: David Shabelman
Publish date:: Jan 27, 1999 11:24 AM EST

Going, going, gone.

Shares of online auctioneer

eBay

have gone through the roof following yesterday's earnings announcement and 3-for-1 stock split. Analyst upgrades are adding to the fervor, which now resembles the enthusiasm that accompanies a bidding war at a real auction house.

Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette

analyst Jamie Kiggen upgraded eBay to buy from market perform and set a 12-month price target of 360. (DLJ has done underwriting for eBay.) The stock opened at 305, its high for the day, and was recently trading at 294 1/2. A lockup period for eBay ends Friday, which will free up 24 million shares, though insiders are limited in the number of shares they can sell.

Shares of

uBid

(UBID)

are drafting off the gains in eBay, jumping 12 7/16 to 84 7/8.

Amazon.com

(AMZN) - Get Report

also weighed in with an earnings report that exceeded expectations and rallied as well. In early trading, Amazon was up 19 7/16 to 135.

In a report after the company's earnings release on Tuesday,

Credit Suisse First Boston

analyst Lise Buyer wrote that Amazon's growth dynamics "continue to be unprecedented" and the long-term prospects for the company remain strong as long as investors can handle the volatility. While Buyer has upped her revenue estimates to $1.3 billion in fiscal 1999 and $2.1 billion in 2000, she also is increasing her estimated losses "significantly" as the company "continues to spend in its so-far-successful efforts to widen its lead over competitors."

"We recommend that growth-stock investors with a tolerance for risk continue to build and hold core positions of Amazon. We see few stocks, even in the Internet arena, which we believe have as much long-term potential," Buyer writes.

DLJ's Kiggen also upped his price target on Amazon.com to 190 from 60. Amazon.com reached a high of 199 1/8 on Jan. 8, but stumbled to 92 9/16 on Jan. 21 before rebounding in the past few days.

Broadcom

also reported strong earnings last night and a 2-for-1 stock split, a combination that virtually guarantees success these days. Its stock was lately up 19 9/16 to 155.

Still to come on the earnings front today is

AOL

(AOL)

. In advance of its announcement, AOL was up 7 1/4 to 162 5/16. AOL is expected to report earnings of 14 cents a share, according to

First Call

Shares of

Broadcast.com

and

@Home

(ATHM) - Get Report

are climbing after

Lehman Brothers