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Technology Stocks : Netscape -- Giant Killer or Flash in the Pan? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kal who wrote (3147)	5/16/1998 12:06:00 AM
From: Kal	Respond to of 4903

vote zdnet.com

To: Kal who wrote (3147)	5/16/1998 9:08:00 AM
From: Leo Francis	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4903

Good news for NSCP. It seems we are heading for a big rally. ht-Ridder/Tribune Business News Friday, May 15, 1998 2:02PM May 15 (San Jose Mercury News/KRTBN) via NewsEdge Corporation - NETSCAPE IS ALIVE AND WELL: We now interrupt the regularly scheduled Microsoft programming elsewhere on these pages for an important announcement: Netscape Communications Corp. (Nasdaq, NSCP) is not dead. On the contrary, the fallen Internet idol has been busy rejuvenating itself and plans a series of announcements in the next several weeks that promise to fuel the burgeoning comeback of its once spent stock. As any astute follower of the controversies between the Washingtons (Redmond and D.C.) knows, Netscape is Exhibit A in the jurisprudentially groundbreaking assertion that Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq, MSFT) isn't very nice. Shares of Netscape went into free fall when Microsoft started giving away Internet browsers, the product Netscape pioneered. But there's new life in Netscape's stock these days -- up almost 80 percent in a month to Thursday's close of $28.69 -- as the Mountain View company is implementing its "Project 60," a two-month effort to re-create its NetCenter Web site as an eyeball-grabbing "portal" on the Internet. Already, Netscape has announced a handful of deals for content on its site and a $70-million co-branding and technology agreement with Excite Inc. (Nasdaq, XCIT), which is paying to receive a quarter of the traffic Netscape refers to search engines. Next, Netscape is set to announce traffic-referral agreements with as many as four more search engines, and blockbuster electronic commerce deals, including one to offer online brokerage and banking. Jennifer Bailey, a Netscape vice-president, confirmed the banking and stock brokerage plan, though she wouldn't identify Netscape's partner. She also wouldn't comment on the status of the search-engine negotiations. "It's hard to tell because it's never done until it's over," she said. But the hype surrounding the talks and Netscape's promised pronouncements already have helped the stock even though Wall Street expects the company to report a loss for the first part of the year. Netscape's next two weeks include: the announcement on May 26 of its results for the first four months of the year (including a "stub" period of one month caused by a change in its fiscal year); the re-launch of its Web site on June 1; and a glitzy analyst and media day in San Francisco on June 4. "If you cover the Net, the players, and what lies ahead ... don't miss this briefing," the company writes in an invitation to the gala. After the roller-coaster ride of Netscape's stock following its August, 1995, initial public offering, investors remain keenly interested. Offered at a split-adjusted $14, it rose as high as $78 the following January but fell as low as $16 last month. "For a long time Netscape was synonomous with the Internet," notes Daniel H. Rimer, an Internet analyst with Hambrecht & Quist in San Francisco who recently recommended again that clients buy Netscape's stock. "For the next year they've got a great opportunity to be a player as a portal," says Rimer, using the new vogue word referring to Web sites that compile a wide variety of content in hopes of attractive large audiences. "But it's one thing selling all the billboards on your Web site. It's another thing generating revenue from the site."