Someone requested the TSC's "Wits Wiggin'" article...
Hope this isn't a repeat...
STOCK NEWS >> BROKERAGES/WALL STREET Wit's Wiggin', but Why?
By Caroline Humer
Staff Reporter
6/29/99 6:59 AM ET
It's like the good old days.
Online investment bank Wit Capital (WITC:Nasdaq) gained 46% Monday on no news.
The best explanation both buy-side and sell-side analysts -- not to mention CNBC and assorted news wires -- had to offer was the positive vibes created by two successful initial public offerings last week. The rationale: Those deals illustrate renewed faith both in the IPO market and in the company's business model.
But in the sage words of Art Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies in Boston, what's really behind the jump "is anyone's guess."
One person familiar with Wit's business says there may be anticipation about news the company has been holding back due to its so-called quiet period, including a deal with Internet operating company CMGI (CMGI:Nasdaq).
Wit went public June 4 at $9 a share, and Tuesday is the last day of the 25-day Securities and Exchange Commission-enforced period during which it can't announce anything not in its IPO prospectus. Wit declined to comment on the stock's rise Monday. The stock closed up 8 1/2 at 27 1/16 as 12.3 million shares traded, far above the float of 7.6 million shares. That follows a 20% increase Friday and consistent gains last week.
The stock's rise appears to be at least in part due to the fact that Wit has struck a deal with CMGI. CMGI will allow investors who are online and own more than 100 of its shares to buy shares in IPOs of companies in which CMGI owns a stake. Those offers, one for Internet advertising company Engage, for instance, are being handled exclusively by Wit. CMGI wasn't immediately available for comment.
To judge by the traffic on Internet message boards, news of some sort of deal with CMGI is out. "I think part of [the gain] is daytraders and momentum players," says the person familiar with Wit's business.
In addition to the CMGI deal, this person says Wit has many other initiatives planned. These initiatives may include starting its first angel fund (which will make early-stage investments in companies), beginning after-hours trading as early as this summer and launching a revamped Web site. Wit has been talking about after-hours trading on the Internet for years but has been overshadowed in recent months by competitor Eclipse Trading's move to begin trading this summer with heavy hitters like Morgan Stanley Dean Witter (MWD:NYSE) and its Discover Brokerage unit.
But if that's not enough, there's always the explanation du jour -- equally popular with message boards and funds.
Randall Roth, an analyst at Renaissance Capital, which runs IPO Plus Aftermarket fund, says that Internet business firms Juniper (JNPR:Nasdaq) and Ariba (ARBA:Nasdaq) offerings had indeed gone extremely well after a dry period for the IPO market. Juniper shares nearly tripled Friday on its first day of trading to close at 98 7/8, while Ariba gained 239% when it debuted Thursday to close at 77 7/8. Wit distributed shares in Juniper.
"They probably instilled a little more confidence," Roth says.
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