(COMTEX) B: Yahoo! Holds Net Index Down as Market Rallies
FYI - M&A West Mentioned in this Press Release
New York, Aug 28, 2000 (123Jump via COMTEX) -- Major indices were forging more gains today, as the Nasdaq Composite Index, the Dow industrials and the S&P 500
are all better by 1% to 4089.45, 11300.19 and 1522.66 respectively. The Net sector is also mostly higher with the notable exception of media services titan Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO). The heavyweight helped drag the Merrill Lynch Internet HOLDRs (AMEX:HHH) down 2 11/16, or 2.3% to 115 1/8 - following last week's 8% advance.
Shares of Yahoo! are off 9 points, or almost 7% to 125 1/4, a plunge that was triggered by negative comments from Lehman Brothers analyst Holly Becker. She reiterated her "neutral" rating, drawing caution to the stock's "rich" valuation and suggesting that the company's difficult operating environment will eventually impact on its financial results. She also noted that traditional
advertisers are not showing signs of ramping up their online ad spending to fill the void left by cutbacks from existing e-advertisers.
After some early weakness, the other sector heavyweights battled back. America Online (NYSE:AOL), is now lower by just 1/2 to 59 1/2, eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) is up 1/2 to 62 11/16, and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) is up 11/16 to 40 5/8. Amazon also had its "neutral" reiterated by Lehman this morning.
Other brokers going through the motions today include U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray reiterating its "strong buy" ratings on online info firm Ask Jeeves (NASDAQ:ASKJ) and Web services company net.Genesis (NASDAQ:NTGX). Ask Jeeves
added 1 1/8, or over 4% to 26 1/4, but net.Genesis fell 1 1/16, or 12% to 8 1/16. Goldman Sachs restated its "trading buy" rating on Web business-to-business company FreeMarkets (NASDAQ:FMKT), prompting a rise of 4 7/8, or 8% to 69 1/8.
Bear Stearns initiated coverage of Internet holding company divine Interventures (NASDAQ:DVIN) with "buy" rating, lifting the stock 7/16, or over 6% to 7 1/4, while e-business and computer hardware provider IBM (NYSE:IBM) continued its recent run-up, climbing another 3 15/16 to 132 15/16 after it had its "buy" rating renewed by Credit Suisse First Boston. Its price target is $150.
In deal-making today, networking kingpin Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) announced the formation of the Content Alliance aimed to accelerate the industry-wide adoption of compatible Content Delivery Networks (CDN) technology. The alliance members include service providers Cable & Wireless, Digital Island (NASDAQ:ISLD), Genuity (NASDAQ:GENU), GlobalCenter, Mirror Image Internet,
NaviSite (NASDAQ:NAVI), PSINet (NASDAQ:PSIX), ServInt, and technology provider Network Appliance (NASDAQ:NTAP).
Most in the group are gaining today, led by Network Appliance, up 4 1/4, or 4% to 105 1/16.
Sabre Holdings Group (NYSE:TSG), the operator of the world's biggest travel computer reservation system, announced the acquisition of rival GetThere.com
(NASDAQ:GTHR), another large B2B travel operation. The cash purchase price of $17.75 per share brings the total value of the deal to $757 million, a healthy premium to Friday's close of 12 1/8. It last traded this afternoon at 17 3/16,
surging 5 1/16 or 42%.
In contrast, Sabre is down 7/8, or 3% to 28 7/8, as the company also publicized plans to cut 1,200 jobs, or 11% of its workforce, and absorb a $20 million charge as part of its drive to shave its expenses by $100 million by 2001.
Travelocity.com (NASDAQ:TVLY), 62% owned by Sabre, jumped 1 5/8, or 12% to last trade at 14 3/4.
In the online marketing space, Engage's (NASDAQ:ENGA) business-to-business advertising division announced a strategic partnership with yesmail.com, a leading e-mail marketing services provider and developer of permission-based
e-mail marketing. Engage Business Media will allow its publishers to collect voluntary e-mail addresses to create a narrow, high quality database of potential online clients for marketers.
Engage stock is currently higher by 15/16, or 8% to 12 1/8. Both companies are majority-owned units of net incubator CMGI (NASDAQ:CMGI).
Another alliance saw e-business solutions provider Accrue Software (NASDAQ:ACRU) announce an integration partnership with Epicentric, a next generation e-commerce portal developer, to expand its product offerings. The two companies already collaborated on Accrue's Content Bridge for Epicentric, including joint marketing efforts.
Acrue stock is posting a gain of 2 1/4, or 11% to 23 at the moment.
A development in the Internet security space saw tech holding company M&A West(MAWI) expand its online offering of security products to include VeriSign's
(NASDAQ:VRSN) Secure Site services through its subsidiary, InvincibleNet.com. M&A stock shed 1/4 to 6 5/8 on the Nasdaq Bulletin Board while VeriSign gained 5 1/8, or 3% to 181 1/2 by the afternoon.
In Australia, telecommunications firm Telstra (NYSE:TLS) is getting ready to buy 5% of Net search infrastructure firm LookSmart (NASDAQ:LOOK) and half of its Australian business, according to The Australian. LookSmart confirmed talks with Telstra but added that there is not yet anything to announce.
Shares of LookSmart climbed 1 1/8, or 7% to 16 1/2 on the speculation, while Telstra edged up 7/16 to 19 15/16.
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