To: TA Trader who wrote (936 ) 4/8/1999 7:36:00 PM From: hoffy Respond to of 4337
Interactive Mania article: See the article below. This is why there is so much excitement with IATV. Anything interactive is seen as the next internet type company. IATV has a long way to go. I can't see shorting the hysteria in this technology. It is much too early. -------------------------------------------------- By David B. Wilkerson, CBS MarketWatch Last Update: 6:12 PM ET Apr 8, 1999 Media Report Tech Report PASADENA, Calif. (CBS.MW) -- Gemstar International Group rocketed to a fifth-straight record-high Thursday, as investors responded to what a Gerard Klauer Mattison analyst called the company's "strategic value." CBS MarketWatch Columns Updated: 4/8/99 7:00:32 PM ET The stock (GMST) -- which was trading at just over 57 as recently as March 24 -- jumped 7 to 105 1/2. The company maintains that it has no comment on the recent market activity. Technophobe's delight Gemstar is best known for its VCR Plus automatic recording system, but its stock has been driven by its interactive television program guide technology. "Gemstar's control of the interactive program guide patents has huge strategic value for a number of players," Gerard Klauer's Alan Gould told CBS.MarketWatch.com. Last week, Hambrecht & Quist analyst Joseph Arsenio said the interactive guide will become "a must-have feature in a digital TV environment of 100 channels or more," and figures to be the gateway to various enhanced services such as pay-per-view, Internet access, telephony and videophone. One reason for the stock's huge gains during the past week was Gemstar's "Internet currency" from this kind of technological leverage, said Gould. Driving the stock of Internet vehicles higher Anything interactive seems to be viewed through the same prism through which investors look at Internet shares, Gould suggested. "People see TCI Music going from a half-a-billion-dollar valuation to a $10 billion valuation in two days," he said referring to the aftermath of Liberty Media's proposed plan to use interactive video company TCI Music as its "primary Internet vehicle."