=WavePhore Off 9%; Profit-Taking Follows Microsoft News
Dow Jones News Service via Dow Jones
By Janet Morrissey
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--WavePhore Inc. (WAVO) shares fell 8.8% Wednesday in what analysts attribute to profit-taking by short-term investors.
First Albany Corp. analyst Joel Krasner said the stock climbed from 7 in early
September to a 52-week high of 13 Tuesday as market watchers anxiously awaited
confirmation of a pact with Microsoft Corp. (MSFT).
On Wednesday, WavePhore announced that its WaveTop service would be available
as a channel on Microsoft's Internet Explorer 4.0. The free channel is a
consumer entertainment and information service that offers multimedia content,
popular publications, games and news. Internet Explorer 4.0 users will be able
to select the WaveTop channel through the Microsoft Online Active Channel Guide
for Internet Explorer.
Krasner said he wasn't surprised when some investors chose to cash in after
the company released the news.
"There was a lot of volume, and it isn't surprising that if someone who took a
position at 7, 8 or 9 decided to sell at 12 and 13 to take a quick profit."
The Phoenix-based data-broadcasting, network-services company closed at 11
11/16, off 1 1/8, or 8.8%, on volume of 1.3 million shares, compared with
average daily volume of 218,500. The shares opened Wednesday at 13, equal to the
52-week high set Tuesday.
Krasner said he saw Wednesday's price slip as nothing more than "a rest stop"
on its way up.
The analyst speculates that the pact with Microsoft may signal the beginning
of a series of partnerships with the software giant.
Krasner said WavePhore could enter into lucrative agreements in connection
with Microsoft's Web-TV and Windows '98.
WavePhore's manager of investor relations, Jennifer Schreier, confirmed that
other pacts are forthcoming. Later this week, she said, the company will unveil
that its Newscast channel will be a premium business channel on Microsoft's
Internet Explorer.
Schreier also attributed the company's stock slide to profit-takers.
"(WavePhore) saw a huge leap in the past two weeks and a lot of short-term
players may have gone in, saw the volume, the price increase, made their money
and got out."
However, she maintained that none of the sellers were long-term holders or
institutional investors.
(END) DOW JONES NEWS 10-01-97 |
