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EXODUS EXODUS: Insiders have begun looking for the exits with their holdings of
Exodus Communications Inc.'s shares. Insiders of the hot Internet company sold a total of
474,600 shares from April 26 to April 30, notes Craig Columbus, research director at
Primark Corp., in Scottsdale, Ariz. The sales, in the open market, were at $87.28 to
$98.47 a share, and took place just after the shares peaked at $103.8125 on May 22.
On the Nasdaq Stock Market yesterday, Exodus closed at $76.625, up $1.625.
Unlike consumer-oriented Internet stocks such as Amazon.com Inc., which have been
weak recently, Exodus, based in Santa Clara, Calif., works in the business-to-business
market, providing services such as running Internet sites for online retailers.
"This was one of the last real pockets of strengths among the Internet stocks, and these
levels of insider selling point toward an even broader weakness than just some of the
consumer-related internet stocks," says Mr. Columbus.
"I think that Exodus has a long-term home-run business model," he adds. "This stock was
a darling of Internet traders for most of the spring. But it hasn't been immune to the
broader Internet sell-off, and it's not surprising to see a fairly high level of insider
profit-taking before that weakness set in."
"Executives and board of directors members have a limited trading window, and the
general practice is to trade as soon as they can when that window opens," said Maureen
O'Connell, a spokeswoman for Exodus. She also noted that some of the recent insider
selling was by directors who represent venture-capital firms backing Exodus; the shares
owned by the ventures firms are held in the names of the directors, she said, and the
firms operate under their own share-selling strategies.
--Bill |
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