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Technology Stocks : Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alan who wrote (36236)	1/23/1999 4:17:00 PM
From: llamaphlegm	Respond to of 164684

for those too overwhelmed to read that whole nyt's article, the key excerpts (bulls please ignore and buy on the dips as these articles and all factual data which denies that amazon -- though still known as a bookseller by all the media covering it -- will soon dominate ALL e commerce overtaking xcit, yhoo, msn, walmart, costco, aol and every other bot out there) The prices of Internet stocks have risen so high so fast that even analysts enthusiastic about the Internet's long-term effect on the economy have warned that prices in the entire sector are likely to fall more than 50 percent. ... Richard Hoey, chief economist at Dreyfus Corp., recalls that a similar frenzy for computer stocks emerged in the summer of 1983, about the time the personal computer was introduced. But few of the favorites then -- like Prime Computer and Coleco -- are around today. "The enthusiasm over the growth of technology as an industry was very well founded," Hoey said. "But we learned that today's hot stock is not necessarily a long-term winner." Judging by market values, though, few Internet stock prices reflect the possibility of failure. ... Even some who are certain the Internet will bring about fundamental changes in the economy say there is no sense to the huge valuations. "The Internet is making huge changes in how we live our daily lives," said Lise Buyer, an analyst who follows Internet companies at Credit Suisse First Boston. "But there is no way to correlate what is happening with these stocks to the underlying businesses. What we have is a mania." ... Internet stocks shifted into overdrive on Dec. 16, when a little-known Wall Street analyst, Henry Blodget, stirred investors' speculative juices with a seemingly outrageous prediction. Blodget, a 32-year-old financial analyst at CIBC Oppenheimer, forecast that Amazon.com, whose shares were then trading for $242, would reach $400 in 12 months. They surpassed that level in early January, and the stock split. Even though Amazon shares have since fallen, they are up 52 percent since Blodget's report when adjusted for the split. But he, too, says Internet stocks are ahead of themselves. "I don't think there's a sector in history that's been valued at these heights," he said. "It's totally frightening." Blodget said part of the reason for the rapid climb is that there are only about four dozen "pure play" Internet stocks, and fewer than 10 of those have moved much beyond the planning stage.