To: Anthony@Pacific who wrote (47949 ) 12/23/1999 5:28:00 AM From: Stcgg Respond to of 122087
ETYS - Comments from Briefing.com.. eToys (ETYS) 30 15/16 -2: Virginia, there is no Santa Claus rally... At least not in the etailing sector this season... Despite evidence that consumers are using the Net to do more and more of their holiday shopping, most etailing stocks have tanked in the weeks following Thanksgiving... eToys is an excellent example of the etailing sector's woes, as the stock has fallen from a high of 70 9/16 on 11/29, to 30 15/16 today - a loss of 56%... What gives? Basically, daytraders have ignored the etailers in favor of the newer, more exciting B2B, Linux and wireless plays... As money has flowed into these groups, it has come out of the etailers (with the notable exception of Amazon)... And with many of the stocks now getting reacquainted with their 52-wk lows, there is little likelihood of a rebound until sometime in early January... You see, money managers want no part of losers as the quarter/year comes to a close... End of quarter/year window dressing is yet another reason why ETYS has taken such a beating over the past couple of weeks, as professional traders dump the underperformers in favor of the high-flyers... But while investors are dumping the stock, consumers are using the site in record numbers... The company recently announced that it had surpassed 1.5 million cumulative customers (with two weeks still remaining in the holiday quarter ending Dec. 31), more than double the 611,000 cumulative customers that had made a purchase from eToys before Sept. 30, 1999... ETYS also besting ToysRUs in terms of traffic, according to Media Metrix... Q4 sales seen by some topping $100 mln for ETYS, well above the consensus estimate of between $80 and $90 mln... Company posted sales of $22.9 mln in year-ago period... In other words, the current weakness is not justified by the numbers... Consequently, investors might want their first post-Christmas bargain buy to be stock in ETYS, as Briefing.com looks for leading toy etailer to stage at least a moderate recovery ahead of its Q4 earnings report (due around 1/27)... Initial upside target is $50. Oink? >><<