BANCBOSTON ROBERTSON STEPHENS The Internet Stock Team ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: internetstocks.com If you do not have access to a browser, please reply to internetstocks@rsco.com with the message "unsubscribe" in the subject box. Mailing List Changes: internetstocks.com ----------------------------------------------------------------- August 27, 1999
The Web Report - Volume 2, Issue #34
Internetstocks.com Overview - Keith E. Benjamin mailto:keith@rsco.com
This week, the NETDEX index increased 8% to 538.169 compared with the NASDAQ's 3% increase.
BARBEQUE HEATING UP-The sector appears to have warmed up as we had hoped. We would continue to add to existing positions and broaden our list of purchases. Yahoo! seems to be leading the group again, up more than 20% from its recent low but still around 37% below its recent high. AOL still appears quite attractive, having only started to move, from our perspective. AOL is up only approximately 16% from its recent low and still about 43% below its recent high. We believe investors will continue to favor the largest franchises, particularly those already demonstrating profitability. In our opinion, the eTailing stocks can have a sharper seasonal turnaround. Priceline stands out as having rebounded the least, although we see more room for Amazon, eBay, eToys, and Alloy. In our view, CMGI provides a proxy to purchase a broad basket of Internet stocks. Still, we believe there is increasing appreciation of the leaders in smaller categories with business models that can turn profitable faster. Companies providing content and services on an outsource basis generally fit this criteria. These include Digital River, Fatbrain, Infospace, Mapquest, and AskJeeves. We generally like companies that provide services to the big brands without risking investments in their own brand building. These toll-taker business models are starting to stand out. Examples include the eMarketing companies such as DoubleClick and MediaMetrix, which help marketers improve targeting and measure results, effectively taking a percentage of marketing spending. A few vertical consumer networks have been moving from advertising to commerce, allowing business model leverage. These include CNET, SportsLine, Student Advantage and TicketMaster Online CitySearch. This week, we added coverage of Quokka Sports, which is positioned to provide content over expanding broadband access. Business networks are also emerging to allow business-to-business commerce, including Chemdex, a new company on our team's coverage list. Chemdex is one of the first eBusiness vertical networks, set to dramatically improve the efficiency of distributing products for the life sciences industry.
WEB ADDICTION - Whenever we lapse into wondering about valuation, we try to remember why the Web economy is expanding so quickly. We were encouraged this week by a survey suggesting that the Web is addictive. According to the American Psychological Association, some 6% of Internet users appear to compulsively use the Web. Some 17,251 people responded to a questionnaire on ABCNEWS.com. While it may be a stretch to characterize 6% or some portion of users as suffering from a psychological disorder, we can see examples of obsessive behavior, including day trading. While no survey is perfect, we have no problem believing in the Web's power to capture time as it becomes easier to use. We are actually hopeful we are starting to see more positive signs of people finding shopping more convenient online, which is the key driver of value for most Web companies.
eTail Update - Lauren Cooks Levitan
This week the eTailDex closed at 1099.3, up 13% from 972.3 last week, continuing a rebound in the group. Despite this improved trend, the eTailDex currently stands 39% below recent highs achieved the week of April 23.
Given continued underlying strength in online shopping patterns, which were reaffirmed by better-than-expected July shopping traffic data reported last week by MediaMetrix, we remain convinced that investors should benefit from focusing on the eTail group as we approach the holiday season. We expect solid Q3 results and favorable early reads in the holiday season to continue fueling appreciation in the stocks.
PRICELINE - STILL HIGHLY MISUNDERSTOOD - Unlike some of the other stocks of the other Blue Chip eTailers who have bounced off of the lows tested in early August, Priceline is trading approximately 10% above its recent low and still 56% below recent highs. For reference, Amazon is up about one-third from its recent low and about 42% below its recent high. EBay is up 38% from its recent low and still down approximately 45% from its recent high. EToys is up more than 34% from its recent low and still off some 46% from recent highs.
We attribute this lag to an ongoing lack of appreciation for the company's unique demand collection system, which we view as highly extendable to a variety of consumer and business application. The concerns about the company's prospects continue to revolve around Priceline's highly successful, airline product. Priceline seems the victim of its own success, with the travel offering's impressive momentum eclipsing the wide range of consumer and business categories that are ripe for application of the patented Priceline demand collection system. We remain highly impressed by the brand's power and momentum. Priceline has been widely acknowledged as the second most recognized consumer eCommerce brand, second only to Amazon, with more than 100 million U.S. adults recognizing the Priceline.com brand. We anticipate dramatic upside potential in the stock and encourage purchase given our expectations that upcoming announcements regarding specifics of the Priceline auto program rollout and other new services should serve as positive catalysts while also motivating short covering.
EBAY DOES THE RIGHT THING (AGAIN) - EBay made news again this week when it announced changes to those auctions in which the seller elects to use a reserve price, including charging an additional $1 fee. Also this week, the company pulled an auction from its Web site, for stock in a company that had just filed for Chapter 11 and whose trading has been halted on Nasdaq. Both stories made headlines about how the company upset its users; what we would like to highlight is how, once again, the company swiftly reacted to its customers' protests to mitigate their displeasure. After many eBay users protested the changes in policy, eBay quickly responded by reducing the charge to $0.50, with the fee being credited in the event that the reserve auction closes, and dropping the minimum bid price requirement. Regarding the proposed auction of stock, the company was merely maintaining a policy that had been in effect for several months. In our view, eBay has become a highly effective self-regulating community, with the company continuously responding to feedback from its highly involved user community. We believe we are still in the early stages of the development of the huge person-to-person auction market. EBay remains the leader in this brave new world and as such, has had to evolve its infrastructure and policies as the need arises. While its leadership position frequently puts it in the spotlight and requires it to do some legwork for its competitors, we believe eBay continues to build upon a foundation of users and experience that is increasingly becoming difficult for others to replicate.
ALLOY GEARS FOR CHRISTMAS IN AUGUST - While we expect many eTailers to show accelerated growth in the upcoming holiday season, Alloy Online stands out as an eTailer with the opportunity to benefit from two significant seasonal surges. The first big season for Alloy is back-to-school (which is occurring now and we believe should help drive robust Q3 performance.) We expect strong results from the company that caters to Generation Y customers at a time when overall Internet usage, and Internet usage for community and eTailing sites are at all-time highs (Alloy is expected to report its Q2 results after Labor Day). A study released this week found that teens view surfing the Web more as a social event, like going to a mall, than as a pure shopping experience. This finding underscores the reason for our bullish outlook on Alloy. Alloy recognized this trend at an early stage and already complements its eTail offerings with free e-mail, Web page hosting, real-time chat and forums focused on teen issues. Thus, as the back to school rush intensifies and the holiday season follows almost immediately, we believe the company is well positioned to maintain its momentum and expand its customer base by leveraging its balanced commerce, content and community offerings. Media Metrix statistics for July showed that unique visitors to alloy.com increased by 10% in July over June, following a 57% increase in June over May. As word of mouth widens the Alloy community in the high school halls and in the shopping malls (bolstered by recent new creative traffic deals with Yahoo & Excite@Home, we expect revenue expansion to follow, driven both by commerce and by additional advertising revenue.
EARLY PRESENTS FOR US, TOO - One of the occupational hazards of trying to analyze the young and rapidly growing eTailing space (in addition to spending too much money shopping online) is the rudimentary tools available to measure performance of individual companies. Fortunately, in response to the anticipated demands from the investor, corporate, and media communities for more granular shopping data on holiday season performance, Media Metrix, BizRate and NextCard announced new, more detailed measures of online shopping that will be available just in time for the holidays. Specifically, Media Metrix announced a partnership with BizRate.com to provide more accurate and comprehensive eCommerce measurement services. Media Metrix has established itself as the premier source of metered shopping data on the Web, with companies and industry analysts alike anxiously awaiting monthly reports for the latest reach, unique user and stickiness statistics. BizRate collects point-of-purchase data by surveying customers from over 1,700 online merchants, tracking purchasing behavior, measuring eCommerce satisfaction, and rating merchants on their performance. In addition, NextCard announced that it also will be providing a more detailed look at online spending patterns, based on the monthly transactions of about 100,000 NextCard Internet Visa cardholders. NextCard has created an index, based on actual purchases rather than visitor data, to identify the top 25 online merchants and movement within its top 10 list. NextCard heralds its users as "the most Internet-savvy, active online shoppers," making online purchases about five times more frequently than the average online credit card customer. While this index is therefore not representative of the mass market, it represents an improvement in measurement tools similar to that which will be offered by Media Metrix. While we look forward to having better and more timely data regarding eTailers, we caution that fluctuations in results could likely drive increased stock volatility similar to the way retail stocks react to monthly comparable same store sales trends. We expect shifts in data could be particularly difficult to interpret given we have limited historical context and trend data to apply to the analysis.
NORDSTROM TO OFFER "THE WORLD'S LARGEST SHOE STORE" - Nordstrom became the most recent retailer to establish a venture-backed Internet subsidiary. The company announced the creation of a subsidiary encompassing its catalog and Internet businesses and plans to launch the world's largest shoe store with 20 million pairs available for purchase. The company will contribute all catalog and Internet assets, plus $10 million, with Benchmark Capital contributing $15 million, and Madrona Investment Group offering $1 million. Nordstrom's more aggressive move into eTailing offers many of the desirable synergies of a hybrid with established vendor relationships, a well known brand, a loyal customer base established through 98 years of retailing experience, and an existing call center and fulfillment infrastructure to support the Web site. However, the stock did not appear to move on this news. We are encouraged that investors have become more discriminating and are looking for proof that such ambitious plans will pay off before bidding up the shares.
GAP PUTS IT ALL ON(THE)LINE- After much anticipation, Gap will finally be offering its full line of brands online, announcing a three year agreement with America Online to bring Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy products to the Shop@AOL marketplace. Gap's offerings will span much of the AOL shopping landscape, occupying anchor tenancy and premier placements at Shop@AOL, Shop@Netscape.com and Shop@Compuserve.com. The company plans to offer and promote products ranging from Men's and Women's apparel, to Babies, Kids, and Teen apparel and GapBody items that will appear in the lingerie area. AOL's rollout of its shopping marketplace began in July and is expected to be completed in October. AOL Web sites combined to reach 67% of Internet users, or 42.4 million unique visitors in July, according to Media Metrix data, making it the highest ranking domain name on the Internet. We continue to believe fashion will be set offline and Gap, with its clearly communicated brand, should be poised to help migrate its customers to the online channel. We note that Gap already was the 38th most visited shopping site during July, and we expect this ranking to improve as a result of this broadened online exposure.
NEWS IN THE ONLINE TOY SECTOR - We believe eToys will expand its leadership position despite competitive noise. Toys R Us' online efforts were set back further when Robert Nakasone resigned as CEO and director. Perhaps providing some insight into the delays that have plagued the company's online push, Toys R Us cited "differing views regarding the direction of the company" as the reason for his departure. Walt Disney's Buena Vista Internet Group made a $40-50 million investment in Toysmart.com, a toy eTailer with a focus on high-quality, educational toys. The company reportedly is spending $25 million in the fourth quarter to build the Toysmart brand, with Disney pledging to aggressively promote the toy seller across its related interests, including its Family.com site, Go Network portal, television stations, movies, and even Mighty Ducks hockey games. Given Disney's lagging presence online, we don't see this as much of a threat.
eNetwork Update - Michael Graham - michael@rsco.com
INITIATING COVERAGE OF QUOKKA SPORTS - We initiated coverage this week on Quokka Sports with a Buy rating. Quokka creates digital programming that lets its audience be active participants in real-time sporting events. Quokka focuses on delivering depth of sports coverage versus breadth. The company targets traditionally hard to track sporting events, such as sailing and motor racing. In our view, the rich media nature of Quokka's programming is ideal for broadband delivery. Quokka's strategic relationships include a joint venture with NBC Olympics, under which Quokka has rights to cover the Summer and Winter Olympics through 2004. Quokka also has exclusive digital media rights in the sailing and motor racing sports categories. We believe catalysts could include additional coverage contracts for new sports categories. We believe Quokka's rights, technology and strategy will yield a large, long-term business model.
FATBRAIN.COM REPORTS FASTER GROWTH - Fatbrain reported July Q2 revenues of $7.4 million above our estimate of $7.1 million. Fatbrain added 800 new corporate partners, bringing the total to 2,041. Microsoft and Fatbrain extended their relationship with the launch of a new-online bookstore, the fourth Fatbrain store created for Microsoft's online properties. Fatbrain now provides outsource bookstores and is expanding its range of services. Fatbrain reaches more than 1 million individuals at corporate organizations compared with the 600,000 individuals at the end of Q1. Online print-on-demand documentation was surprisingly strong, representing 10.8% of sales versus 5.5% in Q1. We estimate that print-on-demand has margins 2-3x the normal book business and represents a compelling eSourcing opportunity. We believe Fatbrain is solving the corporate "headache" of documentation distribution. We expect the company to demonstrate accelerating growth as it adds more customers and selsl more products and services to each customer. We do not believe the company's potential is yet reflected in the stock.
EXCITE @HOME - Looking Past Confusion - We believe most of the confusion appears to be centered around AT&T's perceived level of commitment, while open access issues appear to have subsided for the moment. We believe Excite @Home represents the fastest way for AT&T to pay for its $140 billion investment in cable infrastructure, by capturing a larger portion of the estimated $150 that households will spend monthly on communications and entertainment (cable, telephone, Internet, etc.). We believe the company's fundamental outlook has been improving substantially, setting the stock up to move higher when the confusion clears. Based on our telephone survey with 20 of @Home's cable partners, we believe the new subscriber rollout is on schedule. We found that there was a two to four week installation backlog in the market, giving high visibility for our 1999 year-end 1.1 million subscriber estimate. We believe that there is upside to subscriber growth in Q4 and beyond with the role out of DOCSIS modems. We believe Excite @Home could begin to show its breadth of vision with new partnerships, including deals for "@Home-Ready PCs" with PC manufacturers and other customer acquisition initiatives with large companies such as Microsoft. We believe Excite @Home is one of the only Internet companies with a compelling asset value. Based on a sum-of-the-parts valuation of MatchLogic, Excite, and @Home, we estimate the company could be worth $40 billion, or $100 per share.
GEMSTAR - We believe that the story is still underappreciated. We believe that there is potential for more usage and related advertising than almost any Internet company. We expect to hear more good news soon on both the litigation and licensing fronts. We like the risk/reward profile of the stock, with advertising revenue creating the potential for 5-10x upside to our estimates, while the company's core licensing business provides some downside protection. This week, Gemstar extended its international presence, by signing an agreement with Axel Springer Verlags, of Germany, to collaborate over broadcasts of subscription free EPG services to customers. We believe that this type of relationship is indicative of Gemstar's intentions to capture a portion of the advertising dollars that will be running through it's EPGs in the future.
SPORTSLINE LEADING IN REACH - It was announced that SportsLine's reach to Internet users surpassed all other sports Web sites in the month of July. The study done by Media Metrix reported SportsLine USAs combined reach among users at home and at work was 6.6% for the month, beating out ESPN, whose reach was 6.4%. SportsLine's reach increased 12% over June, while ESPN's declined 7%. Fall promotions could help momentum.
ASK JEEVES ADDING CORPORATE CUSTOMERS - Both Iomega and Micron Electronics have signed on with Ask Jeeves to become customers of the Ask Jeeves' Corporate Question Answering Service. Beyond offering its services to leading PC manufacturers, Ask Jeeves is broadening its efforts to secure other technology market leaders as customers. We expect that Ask Jeeves will continue building momentum.
AMERICA ONLINE KEEPS MOVING PAST COMPETITIVE NOISE - We must acknowledge that AltaVista attracted some 225,000 users in two weeks with free Internet Access. In exchange for permanently setting home pages to MyAltaVista, individuals save the $10-20 monthly subscription fee. We estimate the wholesale cost to AltaVista would be less than $10 per month. We wonder whether AltaVista will be able to scale and sustain this model, given the need to provide a high quality of service and current levels of advertising/commerce revenue per user from other portals. We have seen AOL fend of fprice-based competition before, with habits creating loyalty and brand momentum building. Despite competitive noise, we believe AOL continues to widen the gap with incremental services such as AIM enhancements. The announcement that AOL has launched its next generation of AOL Instant Messenger (AIM 3.0), along with recent collaborative agreements with APPLE, Earthlink, Mindspring, Juno and Novell, gives AIM more than 45 million registered users, 15 of which are AOL members, who are sending more than 450 million messages daily. AIM 3.0 offers users a full package of next-generation communications tools that are expected to enrich and broaden their instant-messaging experience.
eBusiness Update - Eric Upin - eric@rsco.com
STAMPS.COM SIGNS DEAL WITH MICROSOFT - Stamps.com signed a deal with Microsoft in which its software will be available for downloading on the Office Update Web site. We understand the terms include a modest fixed payment to Microsoft in the $1 million range. We expect this may be the first deal in an expanded relationship. Already, after one downloads the software, it is compatible with Microsoft applications, effectively acting as feature while printing from Outlook or Word or other programs. Eventually, we expect it is possible for the Stamps.com function to be bundled in the box. For now, we view this modest deal as strategically significant because Microsoft has a minority investment in eStamp, a hardware-based competitor. We are encouraged that Microsoft did this deal despite this investment. However, we are not surprised, because eStamp's solution is not as easily bundled as Stamps.com's software solution. Also, we understand that Stamps.com allows faster printing because it is not slowed down by a hardware device, with the speed of the printer the effective limitation. We expect Stamps.com's adoption rate to be significantly faster than eStamp's as it rolls out nationally, starting officially on September 27. Between now and then, the approximately 1,500 beta users will be converted to regular users. On that date, a total of 10,000 people will be allowed to use the service from a backlog of interest estimated in excess 30,000. We expect considerable promotional attention this fall will help the service and the stock.
INITIATING COVERAGE OF CHEMDEX - We are initiating coverage of Chemdex with a Buy rating. We believe it is the leading provider of eBusiness Solutions for an estimated $15-billion life sciences products marketplace. Chemdex provides a secure electronic marketplace for life science enterprises, researchers and suppliers to buy and sell chemical and other research products. The market for life science products is very inefficient, with fragmented supplier and buyer bases being served through paper catalogues that are often out of date. The Web-based Chemdex marketplace efficiently matches buyers with suppliers, improving efficiency and reducing ordering costs by as much as 40% for suppliers and even more for buyers. Potential catalysts include signing up the last remaining suppliers, continued customer and registered user growth, increased transactions and new vertical markets. Chemdex is the first public company in what we expect will be a series of companies focused on developing online trading communities for vertical industries. We believe Chemdex can grow into a large valuation.
EMarketing Update - Lowell J. Singer - mailto:lowell@rsco.com
EMarketers Aiding Targeting: There has been consistent concern regarding the effectiveness of banner ads. While it appears the impact and response rates on non-targeted banners remain low, we believe targeted banners will continue to be very effective and justify higher prices. We believe that eMarketing companies will add value for eTailers and advertisers by helping them reach the most appropriate audience. We estimate that U.S. online direct marketing and advertising spending could approach $25 billion in 2002, with eMarketers capturing over $2 billion of this revenue in the form of "toll" payments for use of their proprietary targeting data. DoubleClick Positioned as eMarketing Powerhouse: Questions regarding advertising rates and the company's historic concentration of revenues with AltaVista appear to have help back DoubleClick's stock. As indicated above, we see targeting adding value to advertising. With DoubleClick's proposed acquisitions of Abacus Direct and NetGravity, it appears to be the leader with reduced reliance on Alta Vista. DoubleClick is in the process of building the largest targeting database that will allow the company to collect "tolls" every time Web advertisers or eTailers use the data. If successful, we believe DoubleClick has a chance to be the largest toll collector in the eMarketing sector and to grow into a substantial valuation.
Media Metrix Expands Offerings: Media Metrix recently made two announcements that will further enhance its product offerings. As discussed above, Media Metrix announced a partnership with BizRate.com that will provide eCommerce clients with a deeper understanding of online shopping trends. In addition, Media Metrix introduced Q-Metrix, a product that will offer clients more qualitative data on Web users. We believe that these announcements will only enhance Media Metrix's ability to provide its customers with the most valuable Internet usage data. We believe that VNU's recently announced purchase of Nielsen and its share of NetRatings, Media Metrix's only competitor, demonstrates the long-term attractiveness of online measurement services. We continue to believe the Media Metrix remains the leading brand name in this business and has a potentially insurmountable lead over NetRatings.
eBrokers - Weekly Stock Volume Report - Scott Appleby - mailto:scott@rsco.com
The Fed's highly anticipated quarter point hike on Tuesday and continued neutral bias appeared to have had marginal impact on this week's NETDEX volumes. Volumes declined a mere 0.9% to 686 million shares traded from 692 million, while NASDAQ volumes for the week were actually up 5% from 4.2 billion to 4.4 billion.
In terms of price, eBrokers responded much like the broader markets with a rally (albeit smaller than the broader market on the whole) just prior to the Fed news only to fall back by Tuesday's close. At week's end, the eBrokers as a group were down on average 9.5% for the week while the NASDAQ Financial Index was down just shy of 1% and the NASDAQ composite was up 3% over the same time period. We believe the eBrokers, already beaten down by greater than expected seasonality, are suffering from a multiplier effect with any additional bad news.
NEW DEALS FOR ACTIVE TRADERS - This past week, two of the industry's leaders - E*Trade and Schwab -- announced programs to reward their most active trading customers. E*Trade unveiled a revamped Power E*Trade program with a scaled pricing scheme that rewards greater trading activity. The first 29 trades for the quarter are charged at the regular commission rate. For 30-74 trades a quarter, the charge will be $9.95 per trade for market orders and $14.95 for limit orders. Then for 75 trades and more a quarter, the charge will be an industry low $4.95 for a market order and $9.95 for a limit order. Moreover, Platinum Power E*Trade holders (75 or more trades a quarter) will be given preferred access to IPOs versus the old first come, first serve method originally used by E*Trade.
Schwab introduced Velocity, like E*Trade, geared toward rewarding Schwab's more active traders as defined as those making more than 12 trades per year. However, Velocity, true to its moniker, will focus on increasing the transfer speed of its customers' orders, an important element to receiving best execution. Velocity will provide access to a dedicated Web site where customers can submit multiple orders while still having access to Schwab.com (simultaneously if necessary), where they can continue receive research, real-time quotes, and other value-added services.
We are not that surprised to see E*Trade and Schwab's reward their most active trading customers. Given the low switching costs and increased competition among the top industry players, E*Trade and Schwab through price incentives and improved execution speed, respectively, have provided considerable differentiation among its peers. Moreover, we believe market segmentation based on trading activity or assets makes considerable sense given the favorable economics from customers that either trade more often or park more of their assets with the firm.
Internet Enabling Technology Update -- John Powers -- mailto:JP@rsco.com
The Buck Starts Here. In today's world of money-losing ISPs, the race is on to gain market share and grow user footprint, and the newest thing is the free ISP. We find it important to keep our eye on the ball of long-term profitability. ISPs success will ultimately have to be fueled by inherent profitability because investors won't subsidize growth forever. One of our core Internet enablers is a technology leadership company that is a key partner of Internet service providers as they try to build sustainable profitable business models. With Portal Software, which provides Internet friendly real time billing software, ISPs can tune service offerings to be flexibly priced for market acceptance and profitability. Take a look at NetworkStocks this week to get our detailed thoughts on this exciting company. Subscribe by writing to mailto:NetworkStocks@rsco.com or go to www.networkstocks.com and subscribe from there.
REGISTER NOW: To automatically receive the Weekly Web Report via e-mail, please register at www.internetstocks.com. We now offer you the choice of HTML e-mail, which is much easier to read, or the plain text format that you have been receiving. If you would like to begin receiving the e-mail in HTML format, you will need to return to www.internetstocks.com to update your registration. Please select "Update my profile" or use this direct link: internetstocks.com
UNSUBSCRIBE: If you are a registered user of our website, www.internetstocks.com, and would like to remove yourself from the mailing list for this report, please use this link: internetstocks.com If you do not have access to a browser, please reply to mailto:internetstocks@rsco.com with the message "unsubscribe" in the subject box.
Ticker Rating Price Price 8/19 8/12 1-Wk 52-Wk Chg Chg High 52Wk 8/19 High to to 8/12 8/19
ALOY BUY $13 $10 29% $23 1/5 -43.9% AMZN SBUY $128 4/7 $106 1/8 21% $221 1/4 -41.9% AOL SBUY $100 4/9 $95 3/4 5% $175 1/2 -42.8% ASKJ BUY $34 3/8 |