Lutz,
Well, I'm not sure what to say about it. I still like the company: the Clarus Direct model makes great sense to me, the product seems to be seeing strong acceptance in the market, the partnerships (MSFT, CSCO, etc.) are exciting.
That said, I sold some of my position yesterday morning on the brief strength. I still have a core position, but it didn't make sense to me to continue holding everything in the face of such an onslaught. Irrational exuberance took this stock to 144, and irrational fear is taking it down. I'll be adding again when the sentiment on this stock and sector improves.
I think CLRS is being hit with the sector, but there's also a company-specific angle: the lack of news. CLRS flew into the secondary because the company was putting out lots of great news. Then they went into hibernation for six weeks. It was just inevitable that the air would be let out of the stock, given such a long news vacuum. These stocks run on news and die on silence.
The short-term performance has been painful -- obviously! -- but I'm still quite bullish on CLRS longer term. Unlike ARBA, CMRC, etc., CLRS never intended to make its money by charging transaction fees or owning vertical marketplaces. So, in a rational world, investors would distinguish CLRS from the other B2Bs and see that CLRS is not going to be hurt as much as the others by the fact that industry giants are establishing their own marketplaces. But, of course, we all know there's very little rationality in this market, so here we are--. |
