Amazon, Ebay hit new highs ahead of earnings
By Bambi Francisco, CBS MarketWatch
Last Update: 6:23 PM ET Apr 23, 1999 Internet Daily
Net Headlines
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Online retailing giants Amazon.com and EBay rode to new all-time highs Friday as investors looked forward to earnings reports next week from the Internet juggernauts.
The Goldman Sachs Internet Index gained 2 percent on the day, to end the week up 3.4 percent, fully recovering from Monday's 17 percent plunge.
The Amex Internet index added 2.3 percent.
The so-called leaders in the Internet sector, including AOL, Yahoo , Amazon.com (AMZN: news, msgs), and EBay ended the week up 31 percent on average from the intraday lows hit Monday.
Shopping specials
Shares of EBay (EBAY: news, msgs) soared 28 1/8, or 16 percent, to a new all-time highs of 200 1/8 after trading as low as 146 1/4 this week. Amazon.com jumped to fresh highs as well, surging 20 1/16, or 11 percent, to 210 1/8.
EBay kicks off next week's earnings blizzard on Monday. The online auctioneer is expected to report a first-quarter profit of 2 cents a share vs. a penny-a-share profit a year ago, according to analysts surveyed by First Call.
Quarterly revenue is expected to jump to $25.3 million, compared with $6 million last and $19.5 million in the previous quarter. EBay has beaten expectations by a penny a share for the past two quarters, according to First Call.
Dereck Brown, Internet analyst at Volpe Brown Whelan & Co. expects EBay could report $30 to $35 million in sales, well ahead of forecasts. "The momentum is with EBay," Brown said.
Brown said the addition of a personal shopper service, which EBay announced Friday, is a positive move to keep customers shopping on the site. Brown expects the number of EBay's registered users to near 3 million, up from 2.1 million in the previous quarter.
EBAY
NASD
Last Chg.
200 1/8 +28 1/8
% Chg. Vol.
+16.35% 7,639,900
Day Lo. Day Hi.
170 204
Open Prev.
172 3/8 172
As of
Apr 24/99 0:31 am ET
Last Trade
Apr 23/99 4:01 pm ET
15 MIN. DELAY
Amazon.com
Amazon.com reports first-quarter results on Wednesday. Analysts surveyed by First Call expect the Seattle-based company to post a loss of 29 cents vs. a loss of 7 cents in the year-ago period, and a loss of 14 cents in the previous quarter. Analysts are looking for quarterly revenues of $264 million vs. $87.4 million a year ago, and up from $253 million in the final three months of last year.
UBID 7 c 69 1/8 +18 +35.2% 200 68 3/4 69 1/8 2.53M 76 51 7/8 17:44 Apr23
UBid (UBID: news, msgs) rocketed 18, or 35 percent, to close at 69 1/2 on Friday after the online auction company reported a narrower-than-expected first-quarter loss of $2.5 million, or 27 cents a share, compared to the consensus estimate of a loss of 34 cents.
Other online retailers charged up on Friday as well. Onsale (ONSL: news, msgs) gained 3 3/8 to 27 3/8.
Research pulled
Goldman Sachs inadvertently released a report starting coverage on Priceline with a $120 price target and placing the stock on the firm's "recommended list." Goldman was not part of the company's $160 million IPO in late March.
Goldman later withdrew the note to keep within regulatory procedures for initial public offerings, but not before the stock(PCLN: news, msgs) jumped 11 5/8, or 15 percent, to 88.
A Goldman Sachs spokesman said "the Goldman Sachs research report recommending Priceline.com for purchase was inadvertently released to the market one business day early. Goldman Sachs intends to initiate coverage formally on Monday, April 26."
Priceline.com provides a "name your price" marketplace on the Web, mostly for travel and financial services. Consumers can place a bid for items such as airline tickets, and Priceline.com aims to find a willing seller.
Priceline does not take in that revenue. Instead, the company makes the spread between what a customer pays and the cost of the item. The company doesn't break out the spread it makes, but it's generally around $10 for an airline ticket. By determining the spread, Priceline has more control over margins.
AOL on deck
America Online (AOL: news, msgs) fell 2 3/16 to 146 1/2. The stock closed up 31 percent from its intraday low of 112 hit during Monday's selloff. The Internet blue-chip reports third-quarter results April 27. The First Call consensus is a 9-cent-a-share profit, more than double the 4 cents a share earned a year ago. Many investors expect the company to deliver a positive surprise. AOL has beaten estimates by at least a penny a share in the past four quarters.
AOL said in a filing on Wednesday that major shareholders, including Sprint and Paul Allen will sell 31 million shares. As of Thursday's closing, those shares would be valued at over $4.5 billion.
DoubleClick (DCLK: news, msgs) ran up 4 3/4 to 147 1/4. The provider of Internet advertising is set to report first-quarter results the morning of April 27. Analysts expect a 13-cent-a-share loss vs. a loss of 16 cents in the year-ago period. The company is expected to report billings of $27 million, compared to $13 million in the year-ago period, and $29.1 million in the previous quarter.
All of the billings from DoubleClick's clients are recognized as revenue, except for Alta Vista, the company's biggest customer. Due to accounting procedures that required DoubleClick to recognize Alta Vista's revenues on a commission basis, quarterly sales are projected to be $18.5 million.
Splitsville
EGRP
NASD
Last Chg.
104 1/16 +8 1/16
% Chg. Vol.
+8.40% 8,876,900
Day Lo. Day Hi.
100 106
Open Prev.
102 96
As of
Apr 24/99 0:31 am ET
Last Trade
Apr 23/99 4:01 pm ET
15 MIN. DELAY
E-Trade (EGRP: news, msgs) announced a 2-for-1 stock split for shareholders of record May 7. The split is the second this year for the Palo Alto, Calif. company. The move also comes one day after Charles Schwab (SCH: news, msgs), the largest online broker, said it would split 2-for-1 and two days after Knight/Trimark (NITE: news, msgs) announced a 2-for-1 split as well.
Shares of E-Trade rose 8 1/16, or 8.4 percent, to 104 1/16. Knight/Trimark rose 1 15/16 to 16 15/16. Charles Schwab slipped 1/8 to 120 11/16. Ameritrade (AMTD: news, msgs) gained 6 3/8 to 127. J.B. Oxford (JBOH: news, msgs) was unchanged.
AtHome
Ma Bell's surprise bid for MediaOne sent shares of AtHome (ATHM: news, msgs) up 13 percent, or 8.9 percent, to 158 1/2.
AT&T recently bought cable giant Tele-Communications Inc., giving it TCI's controlling stake in AtHome, a provider of high-speed Internet access.
MediaOne (UMG: news, msgs) along with Time Warner (TWX: news, msgs) owns another high-speed service provider, Road Runner. A combination of the two parent companies could lead to the merging of both services. See AtHome story. See cable story.
Of note...
Yahoo (YHOO: news, msgs) added 3 11/16 to 87 11/16 but is still down 1 percent for the week. Lycos (LCOS: news, msgs) ended with a loss of 7/8 to 94 1/2 after closing at 95 3/7 on Wednesday after the portal cited Media Metrix report ranking Lycos as the most visited site.
Other big gainers for the week
CNet (CNET: news, msgs) added 1 1/2 to 134 1/2 and is up 12 percent for the week after the Internet and media company reported a profit of $3.4 million on revenue of $19.6 million.
Broadvision (BVSN: news, msgs) gained 3 7/8, or 6.4 percent, to 64 3/8. It's up 21 percent for the week. The company that wants to "personalize your e-future" as its tagline suggests, said first quarter sales grew by 83 percent to $18.5 million. The Redwood City, Ca. company said it earned $2.9 million, or 11 cents, two cents ahead of estimates.
Exodus (EXDS: news, msgs) lost 3 7/16 to 100 3/8 but ended the week with a 25 percent gain. The Internet infrastructure company said first-quarter losses widened to $22.2 million on revenue of $30.1 million.
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