To: levy who wrote (17209 ) 2/29/2000 7:58:00 AM From: KLP Respond to of 28311
GNET and Internet Media's Massive Market -Analyst Insightamerica-invest.com ANALYST INSIGHT Internet Media's Massive Market Saturday, Feb. 26, 2000 18:22 PDT By Shannon Peavey, America-iNvest.com Sudip ?Bobby? Rakhit of US Bancorp Piper Jaffray covers market leaders in Internet media. The market potential for these companies is huge, he says, and there is plenty of room for several large players. America-iNvest.com: What companies do you cover and what areas of the Internet are they involved in? Bobby Rakhit: The sector I cover is known as Internet media and marketing, and this includes e-marketing companies, content-driven companies, and Internet infrastructure players. This is obviously a very large universe. Some of the stocks I cover include Yahoo! (YHOO), CMGI (CMGI), Doubleclick (DCLK), Infospace (INSP), and Go2Net (GNET). America-iNvest.com: What is the big driver behind the incredible success of companies like these in the past 12 months? Rakhit: The market potential - it?s huge. In Internet advertising alone, for example, we are predicting a $45 billion market by 2005. Doubleclick and CMGI are leaders in the sector now, but there is definitely room enough for several large players. The sector is large enough for a number of successful niche players, like Digital Impact (DIGI) and Mediaplex (MPLX). Many of these companies are already working with existing e-marketing giants. In our portfolio we also have other e-marketing niche companies like MyPoints.com (MYPT), which are concentrating in direct marketing. America-iNvest.com: What is your favorite stock currently? Rakhit: Infospace.com (INSP). I love this company. It has a dominant position in the industry right now. It is the only company out there that is focused on aggregating content and distributing it over wireless devices. Then it has partners in Nokia (NOK) and Ericcson (ECCY) overseas, plus AT&T (T) here in the U.S. The company also has a merchant services area, and has made two significant acquisitions recently in Prio and Saraide. The stock is also about to split again. Just unbelievable. America-iNvest.com: Why aren?t there other companies doing what Infospace does? Are there potential competitors on the radar? Rakhit: Motorola (MOT) and Oracle (ORCL) are trying to get into same space and there may be some smaller niche companies trying to do something, but right now Infospace is really the only one out there. CEO Naveen Jain is just amazing. He has done so much with this company. He has strong vision and execution abilities. America-iNveset.com: Any other picks? Rakhit: Go2Net is another great company and was one of our group?s top pick last month. They?ve got a lot going for them, including Paul Allen?s (of Vulcan Ventures) backing, and a knack for getting into areas which have tremendous growth opportunities. For example, they have 800,000 online companies, and 58,000 merchants, in their hypermart area, the largest on the ?Net, which means revenues will stream in from transactions and advertising. They are also involved in a deal that will give them access to Charter Communications? (CHTR) subscribers. That?s worth a huge amount of revenue. Go2Net?s recent acquisition of National Discount Brokers (NDB) solidifies the company?s silicon investor strategy ? and gives it stock trading rights, as well as adding 200,000 new customers. America-iNvest.com: What?s your outlook for the Internet group in general in the near-term? Rakhit: There will be a shakeout starting sometime this year. But I think there will be several survivors among the big names, as well as among the niche players. I believe Doubleclick and CMGI will be among the survivors. America-iNvest.com: We?ve seen Doubleclick?s stock start to recover this afternoon after a week filled with plenty of talk about privacy and the FTC. Do you think the concerns are justified? Rakhit: Internet advertising, in terms of privacy of the individual, is really no different than what direct marketers do. I don?t think this issue will impact Doubleclick in any big way. The stock might trade sideways for a little while, but that?s about it. The company has strong fundamentals and is very working closely with FTC and has an intricate privacy plan. We will be addressing privacy-related issues soon in a regular Internet newsletter. America-iNvest.com: What do you make of the buzz about Yahoo! Will they stay true to their vow of independence? Rakhit: I think the strategy Yahoo! has taken for now is right for them. The stock has rebounded and I think that long-term, this is a great name to hold. But its upswing may not be as great as Go2Net?s will be, because of its sheer size. For companies like these, distribution is critical. I think the merger between AOL (AOL) and Time Warner (TWX) will be great for these companies once investors really understand what impact a deal like this will have. America-iNvest.com: How did you become an analyst and develop your specialization in this arena? Rakhit: I started my career working at Deloitte &Touche as a management consultant, where I learned a lot about technology. Eventually I decided I wanted to do research so I went to work for Morgan Stanley where I was able to work with and learn from Rich Bilotti and Mary Meeker. I knew I really enjoyed this field, and thought I would focus on Internet companies since I knew this was an extremely high-growth area. America-iNvest.com: Since you started working in the financial field, what would you say is the most important lesson you?ve learned about the markets? Rakhit: You know, I?d have to agree with what Rob Martin of Friedman, Billings, Ramsey said (in last week?s Analyst Insight column). Never sell yourself on any given technology or idea, and don't just jump into stocks based on momentum without a greater sense of what the market opportunity is and where a given company is positioned. Shannon Peavey is a senior reporter for America-iNvest.com. Copyright ¸ 1998-2000 GlobalnetFinancial.com, Inc. and America-iNvest.com's data suppliers. All rights reserved.