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To: H James Morris who wrote (36332)1/24/1999 7:49:00 PM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph  Respond to of 164684
 
The Internet Capitalist
SG Cowen Internet Research
15
respectively). The number of advertisers
increased “only” 100 q/q, to 2,300, thanks to
management's decision to establish closer
relationships (read: more money) with their
existing advertising partners, a strategy
illustrated clearly in DCLK's average revenue
per advertisers figure, which jumped 25% in
Q4 over Q3. Interestingly enough,
DoubleClick is starting to break out
sponsorship revenue (multi-million, fixed,
multi-year deals with advertisers); sponsorship
revenue grew 57% sequentially to $5.5 million
in Q4 and reflects both the maturation of the
medium (greater contract lengths, smarter
advertising buys) as well as a push on DCLK's
part to generate this type of revenue (since it
increases revenue visibility nicely).
We're Keeping The Buy Rating…
We admit to being perhaps too conservative in
our one quarter-ago analysis of how the Alta
Vista deal would act as an over hang on the
stock. Obviously, the stock was telling us
something about the whens and hows of
yesterday's Compaq deal as it advanced from
its 20s low three months ago, but we weren't
listening and missed our chance to upgrade
DCLK to a Strong Buy after their blow-out
September quarter. Now that the stock is in
the mid 90s, the market is looking jittery for
these Internet stocks, another great quarter has
been reported, and DoubleClick's position
looks to be even more unassailable in the
Internet advertising services space, you'd think
we wouldn't hesitate to upgrade, but we are.
Our maintenance of the Buy rating reflects our
strategy to keep our powder dry on this one
until we get just a bit more data on those
drivers of the model in 1999: Compaq's
investment in Alta Vista, the success of the
Closed Loop product, the continued
ascendancy of DART, and the critical mass
point in their International business. We
suspect all of these factors will tip their hand
one way or another in 1999 (our early bet is
that the tip will be positive) so until then, we
stick with the Buy rating. On the price target
front, we'll admit to being a progenitor of some
creative valuation analyses in these Internet
names, but we think that a combination of
discounted earnings, cash flow, or a revenue
multiple approach can get investors (with a
longer term time horizon) to a $125 price
target for DCLK. We're happy to share these
calculations with you; please contact your SG
Cowen salesperson or a member of our team
for a copy.
Excite
The Big news out of Excite this week was, of
course, the @Home merger, the specifics of
which we discuss below. In addition to that,
however, Excite reported their Q4 operating
results, which, though a dénouement, were
pretty solid. Herewith, some highlights from
both:
@Home announced this past week that it was
purchasing Excite for about $7 billion, or 62
million ATHM shares (1.042 ATHM shares per
XCIT share) in a purchase transaction that
should close within the next 90 days. George
Bell, Excite's CEO will report to Tom Jermoluk
(@Home's Chairman and CEO) and receive a
board seat; no/few employees will be
eliminated, and operations will remain in their
separate (but next door) locations. The
Excite@Home service will be available to
@Home subscribers sometime in @H:99
(perhaps Q3), with marketing plans for the
combined service still in development.
The Combined P&L Looks Awfully Attractive,
Though Relatively Distant…
@Home suggested that the deal would be
immediately accretive to their bottom line and
15-20% accretive to their model in 2002.
According to management, the combined 2002
P&L will show something like $2 billion in
revenue and 30-35% operating margins, with
subscription revenue accounting for 40-45% of