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Technology Stocks : CMGI What is the latest news on this stock? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LOGAN12 who wrote (8476)	5/21/1999 3:37:00 PM
From: Jenne	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 19700

Internet Sector Stumbles Into Weekend By David Shabelman Staff Reporter 5/21/99 2:17 PM ET SAN FRANCISCO -- It's shaping up to be an ugly Friday in the technology sector, and Internet stocks are gasping for breath heading into the weekend. Lack of news appears to be the culprit behind losses in most Internet stocks, though some weakness could be attributed to a research report by Media Metrix that showed the total number of unique visitors on the Internet in April declined 0.7% to 61.1 million users from 61.6 million users in March. In a research note released today, BT Alex. Brown analysts said the numbers indicated that improved weather may have contributed to the flat reading, showing that seasonal effects on the Internet are "becoming more pronounced." Among the leading Net-stock losers this afternoon was @Home (ATHM:Nasdaq), which fell 7 3/16, or 5%, to 129 9/16 after losing 10 points on Thursday. A report in Thursday's San Jose Mercury News that CEO Thomas Jermoluk may take a smaller role or leave the company after the completion of its acquisition of Excite (XCIT:Nasdaq) was weighing on @Home stock today. Jermoluk also has filed to sell $16 million worth of stock, according to federal filings. Excite was down 7 1/4, or 5%, at 132 15/16. Also in the Internet world, CMGI (CMGI:Nasdaq) was down 8, or 3%, at 230 1/2. The Net venture capitalist typically sees large price swings when the majority of the sector is either up or down. Dick Dickson, a technical analyst with Scott & Stringfellow, said he's unclear about the direction in the technology sector. Dickson said he's seeing lower highs and higher lows in the American Stock Exchange Inter@ctive index, indicating an eventual breakout, but that the direction has not been determined yet. However, Dickson said that, in his opinion, more things "are looking positive" than negative in the tech sector. He said the Chicago Board Options Exchange Computer Software index and the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor index were both breaking out to the upside on Thursday before the late-day selloff. And the corrections seen in the computer and Internet sectors over the past month have made them "a little oversold." Dickson said eBay (EBAY:Nasdaq) is an example of a stock with lower highs and higher lows. After eBay made its high of 234 on April 27, it has traded in an increasingly narrow range, with the low end of the range at the 168 level from May 5. Drawing trendlines off the highs and the lows, Dickson has determined that an upside breakout would be in the 195-196 area, while a downside breakout would be below 180. Note that these levels do change daily. eBay was lately down 1 1/8, or 1%, at 185 1/2. Dickson also tackled the question of what constituted a correction for an Internet stock, using Amazon.com (AMZN:Nasdaq) to illustrate his point. After reaching a high of 221 1/4 on April 27, Amazon.com fell to a low of 121 1/2 on May 17, a drop of 45%. Dickson said the stock has already corrected more than two-thirds of its move from the February low of 84 1/4 to the 221 1/4 April high, and that it's vulnerable to another 10% to 15% loss. But looking even further out from when it was trading around 40 in November of last year to the 221 1/4 high from April, the stock has only lost around 50%, he said, and it may attempt to hold at that point. Amazon.com was recently trading down 4 15/16, or 4%, at 125 7/8, which is below the 50% retracement level Dickson spoke of, suggesting it could go to the two-thirds level at around 110.