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

To: stockman_scott who wrote (131)	6/29/1999 5:16:00 PM
From: Robert Rose	Respond to of 817

Don't believe this has been posted yet: ----------- Tuesday June 29, 4:48 pm Eastern Time (Note: this article is ''in progress''; there will likely be an update soon.) FOCUS-E-Loan stock price surges in market debut (adds closing stock price, additional background and analyst comments, includes other IPO debuts at end) 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, jumped 164 percent, or $23, to close at $37. 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.. Recently, deals in fledgling markets with strong growth prospects have seen solid performances upon debut. ''Interest rates go up or down but people are going to be mortgaging homes no matter what,'' said Steve Harmon, of Internet.com. ''It is a brand new sector and they are positioned to be a market leader. Consumers are looking for the best deal. They have an opportunity to position themselves as a search engine for loans for finding the best deal.'' 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 Inc.(Nasdaq:PCLN - news), which is making an aggressive push into the arena, Killian said. E-Loan is financed by 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). The other debuts today had more modest gains. -- Digital Island Inc. (Nasdaq:ISLD - news), whose network services help companies that rely on the Internet but are constrained by its unreliability and slowness in commercial uses, gained $1.88 to $11.88 after it priced the deal at $10 a share, the bottom of its expected price range. It raised $60 million through the offering. -- Women First Healthcare Inc. (Nasdaq:WFHC - news) rose 56 cents to $11.56. The company, which sells and markets pharamceutical products that target women aged 35-69 years old, raised $49.5 million through the IPO. The deal priced in the middle of its expected range. The company also offers an online forum and sells some self-care products over the Internet. -- nFront Inc. (Nasdaq:NFNT - news) , which offers software that allows banks to offer services over the Internet, rose $3.50, to $13.50. It raised $39 million after pricing in the middle of its expected range. (Note: this article is ''in progress''; there will likely be an update soon.)