KOREAN Bar-B-Q this week??? :-)
Korea Thrunet comin' thru
Lehman sees upside, says shares headed for $100
By Bill Clifford, CBS MarketWatch
Last Update: 8:37 PM ET Dec 15, 1999
SEOUL (CBS.MW) -- Lehman Brothers on Thursday issued its top "Buy-1" recommendation on the shares of Korea Thrunet Co. Ltd. and set a near-term target price of $100.
Korea Thrunet (KOREA), an integrated high-speed Internet service provider in South Korea, enjoyed a strong debut November 17 on the Nasdaq and has risen as high as $84. The stock closed Wednesday at 55 3/8, down 4 5/8.
U.S.-listed shares of Korea Thrunet
Lehman Brothers lead managed Korea Thrunet's 10.1 million share offering, which was priced at $18 per share. The U.S. investment bank makes a market in the securities.
"Like other Internet stocks, Thrunet has been volatile in its first month," said Ravi Sarathy, who heads Lehman's Internet research team in Asia. "It's come off a bit while investors have waited for the next piece of news about the company, and for analysts to start coverage."
Thrunet will provide news of its third-quarter business results after the U.S. market closes Thursday. Lehman Brothers initiated coverage at its Asia morning meeting, following a quiet period that underwriters must sit out.
"Anyone not involved in the IPO can't effectively cover the company in such a short span of time," said Sarathy. "We've had to wait a month, but now we're urging investors to by Thrunet aggressively, given the targeted 67-percent upside from its current share price."
Sarathy is bullish because Thrunet is a dominant player in one of the world's fastest-growing Internet market, and he says company's strategy and its key alliance with Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) will enable it to extend its leadership position in Korea.
Thrunet currently has the largest market share and widest home coverage of the current broadband access providers in Korea. Sarathy estimates the company will have over 108,000 end users by the end of this year, from just under 91,000 at the end of September.
Thrunet company provides broadband access services primarily via stakeholder Korea Electric Power Co.'s (KEP) hybrid-fiber-coaxial network, the only two way capable cable network in Korea.
Bill Clifford is Tokyo bureau chief for CBS MarketWatch.
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