check this too about xnet very interesting
1502.92
-59.92
Closed -3.83%
ProfileJavaChartSEC FilingsResearchOptionsQuick/ChartQuote/News
US ExchangesCanadaLondonMilan
Ticker Symbol Company Name
Stocks to Watch
On the Move
Small-Cap Screamers
Company Announcements
Buy/Sell/Hold
Word on the Web
Insider Trading
IPO Today
Seeing the Futures
Breaking News
Trader Talk
Fund Manager Focus
Analyst Insight
Model Portfolio
Editor's Choice
CEO Says...
Ask the Expert
Technical Trading
Small Cap Monday
Biotech Tuesday
Vogel's Views
Technology Thursday
Wildcard Friday
Markets
Foreign Exchange
Euro Briefs
UK Stocks to Watch
UK Company Focus
Emerging Markets Report
Emerging Markets Company Focus
Wake-up Call
Mid-Day Money
Five O' Clock Shadow
FX Audio Exchange
CEO Says...
City Talk (UK)
ON24 News
Index Info
Model Portfolio
Earnings Surprises
Upgrades/Downgrades
Coverage Initiations
Top Gainers/Losers
YTD Gainers/Losers
Earnings Surprises
Upgrades/Downgrades
Coverage Initiations
Top Gainers/Losers
Company Announcements
IPO Center
Model Portfolio
Batter Up
Guru Picks
Mutual Fund Articles
Fund Manager Focus
My Portfolio
Stock Screener
Investment Research Manager
Investment Game
Retire a Millionaire
Glossary
IPO Glossary
Ask the Expert
Investment Game
Currency Converter
Matchbook FX
Weekly Recap
Week Ahead
Internet Report
Retire A Millionaire
Guru Picks
Mutual Funds
Average Bob
Investment Challenge
Market Outlook
Personal Technology
Sunday Brunch
View From the Top
GlobalNetFinancial
MatchbookFX
UK-iNvest.com
Italia-iNvest.com
UK-Wire.com
Company Info
Press Releases
Feedback
Register
Join Us
Disclaimer
Five Trends, 10 Stocks for 2000
Thursday, Dec. 30, 1999 19:06 PDT
By Richard Hefter, America-iNvest.com
Who?ll be the winners in 2000? Before we can answer this we must ask: What will be the hot trends in 2000? After all, it should go without saying that the big winners will be the trendsetters and those companies on the crest of a new wave.
Herein we?ve identified five trends for 2000 and 10 companies that should benefit. The trends are, of course, Internet-related (eMarketing), but they?re also geographical (the European and Asian markets) and they also extend to other sectors (biotech). The latter?s probably the biggest surprise: the long-awaited return of the drug sector. Remember: You heard it here first (or one of the first), and some the stocks we highlight in these categories will be ones you?ve heard first here as well.
Top Trends:
1. Market Run for eMarketing:
Much of these early years of the Web have been spent building it: The vast network of sites. Now companies have to start marketing themselves. It?s the needle and haystack issue. They also have to start earning some money. It?s the staying in business issue. Look for Kana Communications (KANA) to capitalize on this trend. They make email management software that aids not only in servicing customers but in profiling and segmenting them for marketing campaigns. Customer relationship management software applications is expected to grow 93% a year to $3.4 billion by 2002.
On the earning money front (as well as marketing), expect online advertising service DoubleClick (DCLK) to continue to click up. ?DoubleClick stands out as one of our brightest stars for the new millennium,? says analyst Tara Long of C.E. Unterberg, Towbin. ?As we turn the corner on a new century, online advertising and marketing fundamentals remain stronger than ever and we continue to wave the eMarketing banner.?
DoubleClick has established a significant head start in online adserving technology development, brand recognition and industry relationships. As the emerging marquee name in the Internet advertising space, DoubleClick, says Long, will command an Internet industry leader valuation. ?If DoubleClick executes on its strategy and establishes itself as the dominant player in the Internet advertising space, its shares should merit the premium valuation level of other Internet sector leaders: Amazon, Yahoo! EBAY, CNET and AOL.?
One smaller company to add to this group is Modem Media Poppe Tyson (MMPT), a company undervalued relative to its peers. The company provides businesses with a comprehensive marketing solution for their Web sites, including Web design and implementation, traffic and e-commerce analysis, creation of an online advertising campaign, and ongoing market evaluations and refinements. On a market cap/2000E revenue basis, MMPT was recently trading at 7.8x, which is a significant discount to the 29.3x average group multiple. Long has a strong buy rating and target price of $85.
2. Wireless in Europe
Everyone knows the Internet is hot across the pond, but the hottest is the wireless area. In September the first "smart" phones hit European stores. They work on a new protocal called Wireless Application Protocal, or WAP, which allows Web sites to be transmitted over handheld devices. As this technology, first developed by Nokia, catches fire over the next year, look for Europeans to spend more time accessing the Internet by cell phone. Analysis, a market research firm in Cambridge, England, predicts that more than half of all European mobile users will be connected to the Internet by the end of 2001.
All of which will be a boon to cellular companies like Nokia (NOK), the undisputed worldwide leader in handsets (expectations call for it to achieve 1 billion subscribers by the end of 2002), as well as wireless infrastructure companies like Ericsson (ERICY), and telco?s like Telecom Italia (TI), one of the more attractive European telecom companies in terms of valuation, recently trading at a 12% discount to the sector.
Europe, in general, should be a destination point for portfolios in 2000 as economic growth rates rise close to American levels. France's GDP is expected to grow to 3.5% and UK's should rise to 3% as compared to 1.9% in 1999. Germany's growth will double to 3% and even Italy has now come out of its slump, expected to grow by at least 2 percent next year. For more European picks, see our ?10 European Tech Stocks for 2000?.
3. Asian Internets
They?re down. They?re up. They?re down. Now they?re up again, and telecom and Net stocks -- what else? -- are bouncing the highest. Hong Kong?s benchmark Hang Seng Index closed the year at another record, with investors looking at Net stocks to match their U.S. and European counterparts. Watch for funds to flow out of the latter markets into markets like Taiwan, Korean, Japan, and Hong Kong. Among the stocks to watch: China Telecom (CHL), which trades as an ADR, and Pacific Century Cyberworks, and New World CyberBase, which trade on the Hong Kong exchange. Another U.S. trading company, and a relatively unknown Asian Internet company, which has risen from 2 when we first wrote about it on August 16 to 5, is Xin Net (XNET). The Vancouver company?s China subsidiary, Xin Hai, which began in April 1997, is the fifth largest ISP in Beijing and the third-largest in Shangyang.
4. BioTechs Abuzz
Biotech is headed for a great year in 2000, according to Michael Murphy, editor of Technology Investing, who tells us there are over 260 drugs in or through late-stage Phase III clinical trials. ?I think we?ll see the first year of over 100 biotech drug approvals in 2000--quite a milestone for an industry most investors have given up for dead. As these drug approvals come through, many biotech companies will turn profitable.?
The return is long in coming for the sector, which led the bull run in the early 1990s. Among the companies to keep an eye on are Chiron (CHIR) and Bio-Technology General (BTGC), expected to grow revenues by over 25% in 2000. A micro-cap stock to watch is Neurocrine Biosciences (NBIX), a San Diego-based biopharmaceutical which produces compounds to treat insomnia and anxiety/depression. For the latter, they use a novel approach (CRF receptors), very different from the neural pathways targeted by the benzodiazepines (Valium) or SSRIs (Prozac, Zoloft). ?The potential of the CRF program,? says Robertson Stephens analyst Jay Silverman, ?is as large as any blockbuster drug ever, in our opinion.?
5. The MicroCap Craze
We all know that small caps tend to outperform larger stocks in the beginning of each year, especially after years like this when small stocks lag the market, as investors buy up companies that were sold off for tax-loss purposes. But the recent broadening out of the market suggests to us that more than a ?January Effect? bounce may be in store for small caps in 2000.
That?s just a hunch, but we-thinks the great bull can?t sustain itself much longer without sharing the spoils a bit. Also, how much higher can a megacap like Microsoft or Qualcomm go (dare we ask!).
Even so, the big returns are still most possible when buying the small fries. They just have more room to grow. (Qualcomm would have to gain 650 points in order to double your returns, while Neurocrine has to add just 5.) Look at our 15-stock MicroCap Model Portfolio, up 143% in 1999. Or even our MicroCap1000 Index. That grew by 41.6%, well ahead of the Dow, the S&P, and the Russell 2000.
?The MicroCap sector is dominated by companies with tremendous growth rates relative to their P/Es,? explains Jay Matulich, our model portfolio manager. Even though the model portfolio is up 143% for the year, for example, the companies on a growth to valuation basis versus the S&P 500 are still trading at a discount. ?The phenomenon here is that our model portfolio EPS growth rate has been increasing at a better than 50% quarter-to-quarter rate versus a mid-teen growth rate for the S&P 500. And the Q3 (?99 vs. ?98) EPS growth was 100% versus the Q2 average of 54%.?
Our picks? See Jay?s portfolio, the premier member of which could well be Adaptive Broadband (ADAP), which builds wireless and satellite-based systems to support ultra high-speed Internet access.
Peace and prosperity to you in the new millennium!
See our recent article, "Editor's Choices Gain 74% in 1999."
Richard Hefter is editor of America-iNvest.com.
Email a Friend
Printable Copy
Investment Challenge
Win a free trip to Caribbean Island or many other prizes.
Play the Game
Sign up for Game
More Information
Recent Articles
Editor's Choices Gain 74% in 2nd Half of '99
10 Stocks to Watch Gain 44% in 3 Months
Trojan Horse Invades Online Trading
Bluefly Seeing Green
Modem Media Starting to Poppe
Around the World
Markets
Foreign Exchange
Euro Briefs
Emerging Markets Reports
|
