To: Doo who wrote (10129 ) 4/16/1998 1:17:00 PM From: Boplicity Read Replies (1) | Respond to
SEARCH ENGINES: The money keeps pouring into the Internet search engine stocks. And, as we stated earlier this week, these stocks aren't just being moved by your old fashioned momentum player, the institutions are behind this latest round of buying. Most impressive among the stocks over the past several days has been InfoSeek (SEEK 40 3/4 +6 1/4). Since Monday, the shares have risen 85%. For proof that the institutions are stoking this buying frenzy, just look at volume. Yesterday, InfoSeek soared 8 7/8 points, or 35%, on volume of 17.7 million shares (almost 12 times average daily turnover). If you think that was impressive, check out volume today: 17.9 million shares in the first two hours of trading. Although all of the search-engines had been up substantially before this week's rally, the latest run was sparked by Yahoo's 100% better-than-expected earnings report last week. Since that report, Yahoo! (YHOO 125 1/2 +7 3/8) has climbed 29%, Excite (XCIT 90 +7), which is scheduled to report earnings after the close today, has soared a whopping 68%, Lycos (LCOS 76 3/16 +4 9/16), has jumped 30%, and go2net (GNET 35 1/4 +1/4) has risen 72%. And, as we stated earlier, given the strong level of institutional participation in this group, it is unlikely that these stocks will experience the type of profit-taking typical of most momentum-driven Internet stocks. Until the overall market cracks or one of these companies slips up, the institutions are likely to continue pumping money into this group, because just like in biotechs, valuation doesn't matter-- the name of the game is potential.
