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Technology Stocks : AUTOHOME, Inc -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Brian P. who wrote (20098)	3/11/2000 4:01:00 PM
From: GraceZ	Respond to of 29970

the article certainly doesn't bolster one's confidence You got that right. What do you all think about the article's argument? They essentially said that the public didn't have a clear idea what @Home is. In contrast, Excite@Home is suffering an identity crisis -- if not with its patrons or within its own ranks, then at least with many investors or would-be investors If management knows what it is doing, then much of the problem is a public relations, or communications problem. It seems that many investors just don't know where this company is trying to go and how it's trying to get there. This weighs on the stock Then they said that management didn't have a clear idea of where it was going or was unable to get it across to the public. I kept thinking they were going to tell us where they thought @Home is going, but they never did. It left me wondering why they own the stock. Where is Excite@Home Going? I'm not sure where the company is going, however, a Fool close to it (named NicholasJG on the Fool message boards) shared his thoughts on where Excite@Home is headed and why its public relations department has been quiet. Read his thoughts in our March 8 Post of the Day. For a conclusion to today's column, I was hoping to find a strong argument lurking behind Excite@Home's valuation -- meaning, I was hoping that the stock would look rather cheap on the simple yet meaningful valuation metrics that we considered. In the end, I instead see a moderate valuation argument. Meanwhile, I want to see the company better define itself to the public, despite Nicholas's argument linked above that says the company is waiting to do so for a reason. It did answer one question for me and that is why they call themselves fools. Maybe it was just a case of, If you can't say anything nice, at least have the courtesy to be vague. The post they refer to says that ATHM is waiting for the March 31st unveiling of it's new browser and everything will fall into place. The only response I have to this is, don't hold your breath. The beta has been out for some time and if it was everything we're hoped and dreamed for, do you think that the stock would be selling down a couple of points every couple of days?

To: Brian P. who wrote (20098)	3/11/2000 4:29:00 PM
From: gpowell	Respond to of 29970

... ATHM message boards elicit the windiest, least succinct posts I've ever seen. They go on and on and it's a struggle to grasp the author's point often amidst all the talk. This is no longer a thread to discuss the merits of ATHM. A while back we dedicated this thread to helping current and recovering shareholders of ATHM. So what looks like rambling posts are, in fact, SI members at various points along the ATHM Shareholder Recovery, 12 step program. Since you did not attend the introductory meeting, I understand your confusion. The post announcing the character change is back a bit, don't bother looking for it. For your information, I've re-listed the 12 steps of the program. 1. We admitted we were powerless over our investment in ATHM -- that our portfolios had suffered serious damage from owning ATHM - instead of [insert your own favorite dot.com] 2. Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves controlled ATHM's stock price, perhaps the Shorts. 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the pursuit of understanding ATHM, via its proxy, the Thread. 4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. 5. Admitted to the Thread, and to ourselves, the exact nature of our wrongs. 6. Were entirely ready to have the Thread reveal, publicly, all these defects of character. 7. Humbly asked the Thread to review our shortcomings. 8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, by recommending ATHM, and became willing to make amends to them all. 9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would result in great bodily injury (to oneself). 10. Vowed never again to recommend a stock. 11. Sought to improve our understanding of why we invested in ATHM, and why we continue to own it. 12. Having had an financial awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry one message to others - buyer beware.

To: Brian P. who wrote (20098)	3/11/2000 4:42:00 PM
From: E. Davies	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 29970

What do you all think about the article's argument? The author of that article was in general clueless. He thinks that ATHM is primarily Excite and was trying to justify Excite as worth $11 billion. Gee- Excite isn't worth $11 Billion? I'm surprised. @home is worth $11 Billion alone without even blinking. Excite $7+ Matchlogic/Enliven ~$5+. @work ~5, ... He valued @home at $2000/customer. Does that mean its worth will be $7 billion at end of 2000 when @home has 3.5 Million? (BTW- thats @homes internal goal). I guess when they hit 30 million customers they will be worth $60 billion. He's a fools fool. One point that he and everyone else has been beating home is that nobody seems to understand the goals of the company. Why is it so complex to everyone? They want to be the broadband AOL. Is that so hard to grasp? I still remember how the stock exploded when somebody coined the term "AOL on steroids". Nothing has changed, why does everyone think it has? The single issue I'm still confused about (as is likely ATHM itself) is what part @home will play in providing carriage to other ISPs. How much profit will ATHM make off a AT&T Mindspring customer (or even an AT&T AOL customer)? Remains to be seen, but I guarantee they will be making profit there too. Eric

To: Brian P. who wrote (20098)	3/11/2000 4:56:00 PM
From: MIKE REDDERT	Respond to of 29970

<What do you all think about the article's argument?> In this case, the Fools are far too wise. They are trying to value a company based on 8th grade reason. They take a "snapshot" of the current subs and apply an "all encompassing" multiple to it. The argument goes something like this: Company A is worth 2X assets of $200 or $400 therefore Company B is worth 2X assets of $200 or $400 End of valuation But what if Company B already has contracts that practically guarantee that their $200 in assets will be worth more than $400 next year, and $800 the following year... whereas Company A has no such contracts ? And what if Company B has all kinds of other independent assets listed in footnotes on their balance sheet. Such is the case with E@H. Sub growth in excess of 100% is almost guaranteed on the retail end. The Motley Fools have chosen to ignore @Work in their calculations, as well as all of the myriad other assets such as Enliven and Matchlogic. If nothing else, we must give E@H credit for being very loose with money when it comes to acquiring other assets. So IMO, the Fools struck out on this one. At the current market cap, Excite is valued far closer to zero than their lame calculations would indicate. Mike