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Technology Stocks : E Loan Inc -EELN -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: stockman_scott who wrote (124)	6/29/1999 3:20:00 PM
From: Mohan Marette	Respond to of 817

eLoan nearly triples despite rate fears.(Come on baby, come to 'big daddy') Scott: Nice little write up here. ========================= Tuesday June 29, 2:55 pm Eastern Time E-Loan stock price nearly triples in market debut By Reshma Kapadia NEW YORK, June 29 (Reuters) - Fears of an interest rate hike did not keep investors away from online mortgage provider E-Loan Inc. (Nasdaq:EELN - news), which nearly tripled in price in its stock market debut on Tuesday. E-Loan shares, brought to market at $14, initially jumped to $21 and later were up nearly 200 percent. They stood at $36.50 in early-afternoon trading. Higher interest rates usually pressure mortgage firms, and Federal Reserve policy-makers are expected to raise rates at a meeting that began today. Also, U.S. data released this morning showed new home sales declined in May. But E-Loan showed no ill-effects. The Dublin, Calif.-based company raised $49 million in its initial public offering (IPO), which was led by Goldman Sachs. The shares priced at the top of the expected range of $12-$14. ''It was a bit surprising, especially with (new) homes sales down today, but it is the first mover in this territory and the first in this area to go public,'' said Linda Killian, a portfolio manager at Renaissance Capital Corp.'s IPO Plus Aftermarket Fund. (Nasdaq:IPOSX - news). ''I think the online mortgage market is going to be the wave of the future,'' she added. Analysts said E-Loan also benefited from having Goldman Sachs as a lead underwriter. The IPO was postponed earlier this month, and the expected price range was subsequently cut to $9-$11 a share from $11-$13. E-Loan said in its prospectus that it offers origination cost savings of more than 50 percent compared with traditional mortgage brokers or single-source lenders. Its competitors include traditional mortgage brokers and companies such as Priceline.com (Nasdaq:PCLN - news), which is making an aggressive push into the arena, Killian said. The company gets its financing from General Electric Co.'s (NYSE:GE - news) GE Capital unit. It also has agreements with Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) and has alliances with DLJdirect (NYSE:DIR - news) and E*Trade Group Inc. (Nasdaq:EGRP - news). biz.yahoo.com