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Technology Stocks : Inforte Corp. (INFT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: speedbot who wrote (10)	2/17/2000 1:10:00 AM
From: Glenn Petersen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 65

This may help keep the price down. From forbes.com: forbes.com February 16, 2000 Inforte's forte By Nicole Koffey NEW YORK. 11:30 AM EST-Inforte (proposed nasdaq ticker: INFT) is the latest addition to a growing list of Internet consultants tapping the public equity markets. The company boasts a positive bottom line, but offers dubious evidence of any distinguishing competitive advantage. Inforte will raise $48 million in proceeds tomorrow by offering 2 million shares in a price range of $23 to $25. Goldman Sachs is underwriting the deal with Salomon Smith Barney and William Blair as comanagers. Inforte helps clients build Web strategies with a focus on client and knowledge management. The company has evolved from a systems integration background, allowing it to coordinate all aspects of a company's supply chain and order system on the Internet. Inforte also develops internal systems for clients looking to present company information to employees. There is no shortage of clients demanding Internet consulting services. Inforte's focus on system integration should also help it meet the needs of the fastest growing area in this market. "Right now, the majority of projects consist of brick and mortar stores aiming to integrate a traditional business with an Internet strategy, " said Alex Arnold of research firm HC Wainwright. "In the future, however, the focus will shift toward moving a client?s supply chain management onto the Web." Although Inforte is perfectly positioned to address those issues, it is competing against a multitude of competitors, many of which have also recently gone public. Agency.com (nasdaq: ACOM) and Organic (nasdaq: OGNC) are but two other players that have recently debuted. As indicated by Agency.com's and Organic's after-market performances, freshly public e-consultants are facing a rough ride. At $42, Agency.com is less than half its opening price. Organic doubled on its first day of trading but has also fallen to about half of its offering price since. One thing that could separate Inforte's stock performance from the pack is a strong proven operating history that has produced earnings from the start. The company also boasts a soaring revenue growth rate. For the nine months ended Sept. 30, 1999, the company's revenues grew to $20.5 million from $9.8 million in the same period of 1998. During the same time, Inforte also earned 15 cents per share in 1999 as compared to 5 cents in 1998. Regardless, Inforte is competing in a field flooded with competitors that have similar strengths. Sapient (nasdaq: SAPE) and Cambridge Technology (nasdaq: CATP) also come from a system integration background and provide tantamount expertise in those areas. They also provide knowledge and customer management. But even Sapient and Cambridge have suffered. Since their IPOs, Cambridge's stock has traded completely flat. Sapient's has also fallen sharply, dropping from a high of $143 to about $78. The poor performance of these companies' stock reflects a market that is oversaturated with e-consultants. Without a defining strategic advantage, Inforte is subject to the same fate. "Internet consultants are a dime a dozen, " said Christine Overby of Forrester Research. "It's very difficult to distinguish among them. Unfortunately Inforte's focus on client and knowledge management is not the way to do it."