I have been building a position in TMCS for the last couple of weeks. I am now ready for the move. TMCS has consolidated at its current levels- essentially the lows of the year- for about 6 weeks. It has not yet participated in the recent inet rebound, yet they are clearly one of the best ecommerce plays out there. I believe they are scheduled to report earnings on 10/18. This should direct some attention to the stock. I think recent developments bode well for earnings.
The following are some recent press releases:
NEW YORK, Sept 20 (Reuters) - No. 2 Internet network Yahoo!
Inc. <YHOO.O> gained ground against leading Web media company
America Online Inc. <AOL.N> in August, Internet market research
group Media Metrix Inc. said in a monthly survey released on
Monday.
Analysts interpreting the data said AOL reached 67 percent
of the Internet audience, roughly flat compared with July,
while Yahoo gained two percentage points to 64 percent of the
Web audience. Yahoo widened its lead over Microsoft Corp.
<MSFT.O> Internet sites, which also remained flat, with 55
percent of Web users.
Lycos Inc. <LCOS.O> dropped from 48 percent of the Web's
audience in July to 47 percent in August.
Media Metrix is one of several firms that track the Web
surfing habits of home and office computer users to determine
monthly rankings of the top 50 Internet destinations.
The survey extrapolates from around 50,000 users to judge
the habits of millions of mostly U.S. Internet users. It is
relied on by Wall Street to determine which sites are drawing
the largest advertising and shopping audiences -- and by
extension is used to value these fast-growing stocks.
"Yahoo is is now more than 8 ... points ahead of
Microsoft," Merril Lynch analyst Henry Blodget wrote in a note
to clients.
He said the time Yahoo users spent on the site and number
of Web pages viewed -- key figures online advertisers pay for
-- are still among the highest in the industry.
Yahoo shares rose 5-1/4 to close at 168-3/8 on the Nasdaq
stock market Monday. Shares of AOL fell 3-5/16 to 83 on the New
York Stock Exchange. Lycos closed down 11/16 points at 43-3/4.
Amazon.com Inc. <AMZN.O>, the online retailer, moved up a
notch to No. 7 from No. 8, surpassing Time Warner Online
<TWX.N>. Nonetheless, Amazon shares closed off 1-1/16 at 62-3/4
on Nasdaq.
"Amazon.com continued its transformation into a, "shopping
portal," which we believe could generate significant
advertising and e-commerce revenue," Blodgetsaid.
In his own note to clients, Bear Stearns analyst Scott
Ehrens pointed out that there was little movement among the
bigger names, aside from the flip-flop in Time Warner and
Amazon's positions.
Lower down the listings, Ehrens highlighted a gain by
About.com Inc. <BOUT.O>, the online information guide company,
from 17th place to No. 15, a move made without significant
acquisitions.
"Given this strong performance, we believe that shares of
About.com will rise (potentially sharply) over the next few
days," he said.
Shares of New York-based About.com closed up 1-11/32 at $35
on Nasdaq.
Ehren also cited Ticketmaster Online -- CitySearch Inc.
<TMCS.O> the No. 6 most visited shopping site which increased
the number of visitors to its site in August to 6.7 percent of
the total Web audience from 6.3 percent in July. He said it
could see further growth in its reach numbers later this year,
due to its proposed acquisition of Microsoft's Sidewalk.com
local entertainment and city guide listings.
"We believe that once this acquisition is completed at the
end of the year and the Sidewalk numbers are rolled into the
TMCS property, its reach will most likely grow to double-digit
percentage levels," Ehrens wrote.
Deal Expands Reach and Positions CitySearch as Dominant Player For
Local Transactions and E-commerce
PASADENA, Calif., Sept. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch
(Nasdaq: TMCS) today announced it has closed the acquisition of the
entertainment city guide portion of MSN Sidewalk from Microsoft
(Nasdaq: MSFT). The closing of this deal positions TMCS as the leader in online local information and transactions.
This acquisition has enabled TMCS to expand from 33 cities to 77 cities worldwide. The deal is expected to increase the reach of TMCS'current properties by more than 40 percent. As part of this deal, TMCS is developing a special version of its CitySearch local arts and entertainment city guide service to be delivered to consumers through a newly created MSN local channel. This MSN channel will continue to feature MSN services previously branded under Sidewalk, such as MSN Yellow Pages, MSN Buyer's Guides, as well
as other Microsoft Services including, MSN CarPoint, MSN HomeAdvisor and MSNBC
news.
TMCS will deliver substantial entertainment and leisure content and
programming across MSN and the Microsoft WebTV Network. TMCS will offer a
direct link to ticketmaster.com under the new "Buy Event Tickets" section on
MSN.com. In addition, Match.Com, a service of TMCS, will become the premier provider of online personals and matchmaking services on MSN. The
relationship between MSN and TMCS marks one of the deepest distribution agreements to date for the two companies.
Under the terms of the agreements, Microsoft will take an initial 9
percent stake in TMCS that could go as high as 13 percent with warrant
exercise, becoming the second largest external shareholder of the company.
Forge Strategic Alliance to Deliver Locally-Developed
Online Information and Transaction Services
PASADENA, Calif. and SEOUL, South Korea, Oct. 5 /PRNewswire/ --
Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch, Inc. (Nasdaq: TMCS) and Korea Information &
Communications Co., Ltd. (KICC) have joined together in a strategic alliance
to provide local information and transaction services in Seoul and other major
cities throughout the republic of Korea. The alliance will also enable small
and medium-sized Korean businesses to conduct electronic commerce on the World
Wide Web.
As part of the agreement, KICC will receive a license to use TMCS' city
guide technology system and will have the ability to offer online personals
and auctions in Korea. KICC and TMCS are also entering into content,
branding, distribution and traffic sharing arrangements in connection with
their respective online information and transaction businesses. KICC and TMCS
will customize the TMCS system to add to and enhance the functionality to make
it most suitable to Korean users.
The city guide that KICC will produce with TMCS technology will provide
in-depth, locally-produced information on where to go and what to do in Seoul,
Korea, including arts and entertainment, recreation, shopping and the ability
to perform online local transactions.
This is the first alliance for TMCS in Asia; the company already has
alliances with media companies to produce city guides in Australia, Europe and
throughout North America.
About Korea Information & Communications
KICC has been operating since 1987 to serve the needs for electronic
payment solutions for 500,000 merchant customers and 30 banks, including
credit card authorization/draft capture, check guarantee, debit card
authorization, and deployment of payment gateways (with CCMS) for merchant
customers to facilitate online shopping. It is the exclusive supplier of
Express Bus Tickets and supplier of Smart IC cards for the commuters in Pusan
city. KICC is the leading provider in Korea of Value-Added Network (VAN)
services for ticket reservations. KICC is also the managing partner in a
consortium that controls the Korea Telephone Directory Co. (KTDC), the
national Yellow Pages directory publisher in Korea and jointly develops an
electronic Yellow Pages Internet portal site. KICC holds the largest market
share among VAN service providers in Korea. |
