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

To: GST who wrote (44568)	3/8/1999 2:42:00 PM
From: Frost Byte	Respond to of 164684

EBay's Surge Lifts its Value Past Top Web Retailer Amazon.com EBay's Surge Lifts its Value Past Top Web Retailer Amazon.com San Jose, California, March 8 (Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc., the top online bookseller, is bidding good-bye to its claim of the most valuable Internet retailer, thanks to eBay Inc., the No. 1 Internet auctioneer that was founded as a forum for trading Pez dispensers. EBay passed Amazon.com Inc. in market value today after its shares reached a record 169 9/16, giving it a value of $20.5 billion. That compares to a market value of $20 billion for Amazon.com, based on its high of 126 7/16 today. Seattle-based Amazon.com's market value soared to more than $31 billion on Jan. 8 after its stock jumped on investor enthusiasm for Internet stocks. Since then, its shares have declined 22 percent as it warned of continuing losses, while eBay's shares have increased 66 percent during the same period. ''Both have strong competitive advantages, and marketing has effectively ramped up their businesses,'' said BancBoston Robertson Stephens analyst Lauren Cooks Levitan, who rates eBay a ''buy.'' ''The difference is that eBay has profit today and people are willing to pay for that.'' Both eBay and Amazon.com are now worth more than H.J. Heinz Co., the fifth-largest food company with sales of $9.2 billion and CVS Corp., the No. 2 U.S. drugstore chain that rang up sales of $15.3 billion in 1998. EBay, one of the few Internet-related companies to have shown a profit, had 1998 sales of $47.4 million. Money-losing Amazon.com, which also sells videos, music and gifts, had sales of $610 million last year. Investors are excited about San Jose, California-based eBay because the company may be able to increase profits by exploiting areas it has hardly touched, such as by selling ads and expanding with auctions specifically for international markets, said Rakesh Sood, an analyst with Goldman Sachs. EBay's shares rose as much as 14 percent today as investors snapped up shares after the company's 3-for-1 stock split last week. The stock split makes the shares appear more affordable to investors who might have been spooked by prices that at times exceeded $300. ''The opportunity Amazon is addressing over time is probably bigger'' than eBay's, but investors are eager to buy shares when they appear to be trading at a lower price, said Levitan. In midafternoon trading, Ebay rose 18 7/8 to 168 1/8. Amazon.com rose 3 1/2 to 125.