Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : VeriSign (VRSN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: AugustWest who wrote (770)	11/2/1999 8:19:00 PM
From: Patriarch	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1285

VeriSign Stock Hits Record High By Gilles Castonguay NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares in VeriSign Inc (Nasdaq:VRSN - news)., an Internet security software company, climbed nearly 18 percent to hit a record high Tuesday after the company announced an electronic commerce alliance with a new unit of Dun & Bradstreet Corp. . Based in Murray Hill, N.J., Dun & Bradstreet is the parent of Moody's Investors Service, one of the top bond rating agencies in the world. Dun & Bradstreet manages a credit history data base on about 57 million companies. The stock of VeriSign, of Mountain View, Calif., gained 23-7/16 or 17.8 percent to end at 155, making it the top net gain leader on the Nasdaq stock market. Earlier in the day, VeriSign said it had formed an alliance with Dun & Bradstreet to offer electronic identity credentials to companies. VeriSign would work with Dun & Bradstreet through eccelerate.com, a new wholly-owned Internet unit that Dun & Bradstreet has created to connect buyers and sellers within online trading groups, in ways meant to enhance the security of electronic business transactions. VeriSign's products, known as ``digital certificates,' are credentials given out to a company's employees to authenticate their identities while doing business on the Internet. Dun & Bradstreet would use such certificates to deliver securely over the Internet information from its vast data bases of financial data on companies, such as credit ratings. The deal, whose terms were not disclosed, was not seen by analysts as warranting the jump in VeriSign's stock. But analysts, nevertheless, saw it as an important step for a firm working toward establishing its technology as the dominant means of providing electronic credentials in cyberspace. ``It is doing all the right things for VeriSign to be a key Internet player,' said Paul Saunders of SoundView Technology Group. Meanwhile, Dun & Bradstreet's stock performance was lackluster throughout the day, ending 3/8 lower at 28-7/16 on the New York Stock Exchange. Its stock price has lingered near year lows as investors have pressured the company to sell itself or break up into pieces. Merrill Lynch analyst Karl Choi said Dun & Bradstreet would not likely generate much revenue from the alliance until demand for digital certificates grew. ``It has no near-term financial impact,' he said. In an interview, Andre Dahan, president of Dun & Bradstreet North America, declined to estimate how much money the company expected to derive from the VeriSign alliance. He, however, cited industry figures projecting business-to-business e-commerce growing to up to $700 billion by 2003, 1 percent of which would be for content and content services, Dun & Bradstreet's specialty. ``It's enough for us to get involved,' Dahan said. Paul Dravis of Banc of America Securities said VeriSign might reap benefits from the deal before Dun & Bradstreet does. ``If there's anything meaningful (to come of it), it won't happen till the second quarter of next year,' said Dravis, who has a ``buy' rating on VeriSign stock.