From WSJ re: internuts turn down
Jeff Matthews, portfolio manager at RAM Partners,
believes the actual catalyst for the downturn was
Amazon.com Inc.'s (AMZN) quarterly earnings report,
released on July 22. The online bookseller posted an
operating loss of 33 cents a share on $115.98 million in
revenue for the second quarter, compared with a loss of
16 cents on $27.86 million in revenue a year earlier.
While Amazon's results were certainly solid, they were
not the "blowout" that many Internet investors were
starting to get used to, Matthews said. And results from
many others in the group have been similar, he noted.
Matthews believes Egghead.com Inc.'s (EGGS) stock
activity provides the best indication that the frenzy is
over, at least for now. Egghead's shares jumped -
climbing as as high as 29 1/8 on July 13 - after the
software retailer gave Wall Street an update on its
efforts to transform itself from a land-based chain to an
online merchant.
The company said its Internet auction site,
surplusauction.com, had revenue of $13.7 million in its
fiscal first quarter, ended June 27. This compares with
$7 million in fourth quarter, ended March 28.
The stock, which was trading at about 9 before its
announcement on July 6, has since slipped back to about
12 1/2. "The stock is (almost) back to where it was
before it exploded on the upside," Matthews said.
|
