Back up the truck -- Ameritrade (AMTD) and Onsale (ONSL).
I had thought that Cymer was America's fastest-growing company, but I have changed my mind. In my honest opinion, I feel that Ameritrade and Onsale will be huge multi-billion dollar companies in the next five years, both in terms of sales and market capitalization.
About Onsale
Onsale has a market cap of $425 million at the current price ($25.25). It not only has the potential to be the market leader in its particular functions on the Internet, but Onsale has already turned into the market leader against all odds. That has been the reason for their recent runup from $5 to over $25. I don't foresee anything in the future that could keep Onsale from being the market leader, as Internet Shopping Network just doesn't cut it if you know what I mean... Onsale is the largest Internet Auction House in the world today, and now that it is in that position, it will be very difficult to push out.
About Ameritrade
Ameritrade has a market cap of $325 million at current price ($22.375). I personally feel that with the consoladation of Ceres and eBroker into one, Ameritrade will be able to compete with E*TRADE very well, perhaps even eventually take it over as the world's #1 Internet Brokerage. They will be advertising on America Online, which should expose millions of customers to their services. I expect their rates to be better than E*TRADE's, and I expect Ameritrade to be in one of the best positions to garner new business on the Internet, perhaps even better than E*TRADE, currently valued at $1.3 billion.
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There are many Internet companies that I am not so hot on. These include Amazon, Netscape, and @HOME, to name a few. Everyone and their mother is short ONSL at these prices (which will actually benefit and has benefitted ONSL holders as the price continues to rocket upward), but how can ONSL be worth less than half of what AMZN is, even after the "mad rise"? The potential market for ONSL is worth much, much more than AMZN's, and I don't expect them to relinquish market leader status anytime soon.
I honestly feel that Internet Auctions are the best commerce idea that has sprung up from the net thus far, and Onsale is in the best position to capitalize on this ingenius idea. Online brokerage is another of the greatest ideas to come this way, and Ameritrade is going to be in a wonderful position in this field when it launches its consolidated broker in a matter of weeks.
These two stocks, especially ONSL, have recently been on a tear. If you had held these 2 stocks in May, you would now have a 200% return on your money. But don't let that scare you away, they aren't done yet. They are not momentum stocks to me, as they are still terribly undervalued at this point. ONSL is continually being pushed upward by the short squeeze and the fact that it remains at a fraction of its market potential. If you want something a little less risky, go with AMTD, but I would rather hold both. I will place market orders to buy both the second I am done with this column. |
