Business Week Online
Net2Phone Soars
The stock of Net2Phone soared 50% on Aug. 24 and 25 to close at $70 1/8 after the New Jersey-based Internet phone-service provider announced back-to-back strategic relationships with key partners. First came a deal that No. 1 PC-maker Compaq Computer would include Net2Phone with its Presario line. Then Sprint agreed to offer the company's low-cost service to Asia. 'We offer more than just a cheap phone call,' says CEO Howie Balter. 'We are collapsing the world with the Internet.'
Briefing.com ...
What About Us?: While shares of recent IPO Net2Phone (NTOP 82 1/8 +12) continue their vertical ascent, old-timers Vocaltec Limited (VOCL 10 5/8 +1 7/16) and Netspeak Corp. (NSPK 11 5/8 -9/16) watching their stocks languish in the teens. Vocaltec and Netspeak were highflyers long before Net2Phone hit the market. In late-1997, both stocks surged from $5 level to the mid-$30s. The issue's spent all of 1998 filling that gap. At the time of the Internet telephony momentum rally, Net2Phone was still a part of long-distance telecom company IDT Corp (IDTC). The unit was spun-off as publicly traded company last month, in an IPO that priced at $15 per share. NTOP shares have soared 210% over the past week, as momentum players have piled into the stock, using news of a Compaq marketing relationship and a Sprint trial of company's Voice over IP technology as pretext. While still trading well off late-1997 highs, both Vocaltec and Netspeak have been moving higher, as some of the more seasoned traders return to stocks as NTOP sympathy plays. Today, Vocaltec has broken through its 50-week moving average, on much heavier than normal volume of 581,000 shares, or approx. 6 times average turnover. - DS
Company__________Market-Cap_____Price/Sales
Net2Phone__________$4 bln___________333
Vocaltec Limited_____$125 mln_________10.2
Netspeak Corp.______$153 mln_________29
A mention in Business Week might signal a short term top. I may sell some but it's been soooo damn fun ... |
