Re: NVDC...from RedHerring.com
www.autobytel.com
Proposed symbol ABTL
Offering 4,500,000 shares at $14-$16
Manager BT Alex. Brown
Comanagers Lehman Brothers; PaineWebber
Trading outlook Rated A+ (up from an A rating)
Autobytel.com, located in Irvine, California, is a branded Internet site for new and preowned vehicle information and purchasing services. Through its Web site, www.autobytel.com, consumers can research pricing, specifications and other information regarding new and preowned vehicles.
Internet shopping companies are in demand; so too should this stock.
www.autoweb.com
Proposed symbol AWEB
Offering 5,000,000 shares at $10-$12
Manager Credit Suisse First Boston
Comanagers Hambrecht & Quist; BancBoston Robertson Stephens; US Bancorp Piper Jaffray
Trading outlook Rated A+
The first week of March didn't meet expectations. Moonshots are made, not born.
Autoweb.com is a consumer automotive Internet service. It has a network of approximately 3,900 member dealers, including approximately 1,200 preowned vehicle locations. In the fourth quarter of 1998, it delivered approximately 250,000 vehicle and related purchase inquiries to member dealers and automotive-related vendors. The company is located in Santa Clara, California.
A direct competitor of Autobytel.com, the company is on the hedge funds' want list.
Competition proves the business is hot.
Is it possible the Monkees were crooning about Internet IPOs when they sang "Here we come/ walking down the Street/ We get the funniest looks from/ everyone we meet"?
Nah. But that could be the theme song for Internet companies sprinting down Wall Street, heading full-tilt towards the IPO market. And they couldn't care less what people are saying about how funny or ridiculous Internet insanity.com has become.
Net mania for 1999 emerged with a vengeance last week as CBS MarketWatch.com (MKTW) debuted to monster 500-percent gains on its IPO. Autobytel.com, an online car-buying service, and Multex, an online provider of investment research, decided to jump on board and file for their own IPOs.
INCREASING TRAFFIC
Autobytel.com, a first mover and market leader in the online automobile e-commerce space, filed for a 4.5 million share public offering, to be traded under the symbol ABTL.
The company will try to raise $82.8 million by offering stock to the public between $17 and $19 per share, with a total of 17.85 million shares outstanding following the IPO.
Like most Internet companies, Autobytel.com is not showing huge revenues. According to the dated numbers it's included in its initial filing, 1997 sales were only $15.3 million -- although that's still 15 times what MarketWatch.com generated for the same year.
But competition is on the way. At the very least, Microsoft's (MSFT) Carpoint has been investing heavily in this space, and there are now a myriad of smaller car-buying services across the Web. Dealerships pay subscription fees to Autobytel.com to be included in its network of referrals, giving consumers free access to price quotes and dealer inventory information.
Peter Ellis, cofounder of Autobytel.com, previously told the Red Herring Online that the genesis for autobytel.com came out of his experience as the owner of bricks-and-mortar car dealerships that went bust. Mr. Ellis professed to hate the way car salesmen prey upon any customer who walks on the lot, and he saw the Web as the great equalizer in the car-buying game.
In addition to its shopping service, Autobytel.com also offers access to auto financing and leasing, as well as car reviews, news, and brochures.
The public offering is to be underwritten by BT Alex. Brown, Lehman Brothers, and PaineWebber.
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