Maybe this will help from Bloomberg-
fyi-
Sotheby's Stock Rises as Auction House Mulls Internet Strategy
Sotheby's Stock Rises as Auction House Mulls Internet Strategy
New York, Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Sotheby's Holdings Inc. shares have more than doubled in three months,
largely on expectations that the world's No. 2 auction house will begin holding more sales on the Internet,
analysts say.
Sotheby's already has a Web site where it posts auction catalogs, schedules and results. It hosted its first
Internet auction last year, of some American and English manuscripts, and this year will go online to sell the
largest privately owned collection of baseball memorabilia.
Holding more such auctions would increase Sotheby's sales and broaden its clientele, and probably boost its
stock price, analysts said. The shares of Internet auctioneers eBay Inc. and uBid Inc. have skyrocketed on
optimism about the future of online commerce. eBay is trading at more than eight times its mid- October
price while uBid has more than doubled.
New York-based Sotheby's, founded in 1744, is much larger than those companies, and analysts anticipate it
would be popular draw on the Internet because of its reputation as a trusted expert on auctions and valuing
property. ''It could make (Sotheby's) extremely profitable over the next five to 10 years,'' said Axxel Knutson
of Axxel Institutional Equity Services, who has a ''strong buy'' rating on the stock. ''People will feel very
confident in buying art from them.''
David Redden, a Sotheby's executive vice president, declined to disclose its plans, saying only that the
company was looking at Internet options. Sotheby's had $1.84 billion in 1997 auction sales, behind only
Christie's International Plc's sales of 1.22 billion pounds (US$1.99 billion.)
www.sothebys.com
The speculation already has helped Sotheby's stock. Ronald Baron, who heads the investor group that owns
about 57 percent of its Class A shares, told Business Week in July that their price could double in three
years if the company expanded online. He suggested a venture with America Online Inc., Time Warner Inc. or
Walt Disney Co.
The shares, then in the low 20s, fell to a 52-week low of 15 in October. They rebounded to an all-time high of
41 3/8 on Dec. 24 as investors bet that Sotheby's would announce an Internet strategy, said analyst George
Sutton of Dain Rauscher Wessels.
While the shares have slipped since then, they still trade at levels not seen since 1989, the year after
Sotheby's went public for the second time. The shares fell 1 3/16 to 34 1/16 in late trading.
On the Internet, Sotheby's could attract new customers through sales of lower-priced collectibles such as
coins, rare books and trading cards, said analyst Mark Miller of Merrill Lynch & Co. Eighty percent of its
merchandise sells for less than $5,000, Redden said. ''There are space and time limitations in what they can
sell today,'' said Miller, who rates the stock a ''near-term accumulate.'' Artworks and other higher-priced
luxury goods likely would continue to be sold at its offices in New York, London and Paris, he said.
The Internet talk isn't the only reason Sotheby's shares have risen, Knutson said. The company has a stable
business and has trimmed costs since the late 1980's, when inflated art prices fueled spending. ''They're
very lean and mean,'' he said. ''Any increase in revenue goes straight to the bottom line.''
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FYI-
The Axxel Knutson's VTAR © Newsletter [Volume Trade Analysis Research] is published [free] 3/4 times a week and is given to various web sites and to individuals who request it. There are no charges. It is free. This may be an excerpt from that newsletter. If you would like the rest of the newsletter or if you would like to be put on the list, simply email me at stockopn@webspan.net; tell me your email address, the city that you live near and how you heard about it.
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