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Technology Stocks : InfoSpace (INSP): Where GNET went! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tahoe_bound who wrote (19346)	5/26/2000 8:43:00 PM
From: KLP	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 28311

Thanks t_b for that article...I've looked at the stamps.com mention several times, and am wondering just how many of the companies PA/VV have invested in would fit the mold mentioned....??? For instance, HSA stock is a mess right now, but the latest press report says they too are sitting on "piles of cash".... Any thoughts??? KLP ------->Jamie Friedman, who follows business-software companies for Goldman Sachs in Menlo Park, Calif., calls this second tier the companies that were the "first good mover," a distinction far more important than the vaunted first-mover advantage that dot-com execs used to say was the key to success. Like Amazon, (AMZN:Nasdaq - news - boards) the first online bookseller, companies that beat the competition to market retained a distinct advantage. Friedman's job has been lonely as his favorites like Freemarkets (FMKT:Nasdaq - news - boards) (a Goldman client) and Commerce One (CMRC:Nasdaq - news - boards) have been pounded. His best example of my second tier is Stamps.com (STMP:Nasdaq - news - boards), whose shares closed Wednesday at 9 1/8, a new low compared with a high of 98 1/2. (Goldman was lead manager of a five-million share secondary for Stamps.com in December at 65. Ouch for clients; hurrah for Stamps.com.) The market seemingly has given up on Stamps.com, which enables Web-based metering of postage. With just $2 million in first-quarter revenue (and negative gross margins), Stamps.com managed to rack up an operating loss of $42 million. And yet it sat on a cash hoard of $368 million on March 31. Friedman, who rates Stamps.com a trading buy, paints the company's future in simple and optimistic terms. If the annual market for postage is $50 billion and if eventually 10% goes online and if Stamps.com can get a 25% marketshare, the company could rack up revenue of $1.25 billion. "A little bit of a lot is a lot," says Friedman.