Internet Update
Dateline: 09/13/99
Click on the title above for this week's Movers & Shakers table.
We've added two stocks and delisted one from our three indices for a total of 88 stocks now. Of these, 23 make our Movers and Shakers list this week - 15 advancers and 8 decliners.
You may recall that last week's report had two stocks posting gains of over 70% for the previous week. One of those, iCrystal, reversed itself and is our biggest decliner this week - down 18.9%. The other 70% gainer, Travelbyus.com, hung on to its gains and even went up a tiny bit more, closing this week at $1.57.
Looking at this week's chart, we note our top gainer is Bid.com, up 44.1%. Bid.com is one of Canada's few pure Internet plays. The solid gains are a welcome relief to investors who had seen the stock fly to meteoric heights above $30, then fizzle after it got listed on the NASDAQ. The gains follow hot on the heeels of the launch of its new look website. It has also launched a European section to complement its Canadian and U.S. auctions. And as the e-commerce partner to Roger's Communications New Media division, Bid.com will benefit from Roger's alliance with Microsoft.
There's only one stock this week into its second week of double digit gains, and that is Vancouver's Stox.com which is actually into its third consecutive week. This company provides online financial services for professionals - stock brokers, banks, and other financial institutions. It is currently in the final stages of developing its online service for the general public.
Stox.com took a dip after climbing as high as $11.00 in April to a recent low near $3.00. In fact, it made this page previously for two consecutive weeks of steep drops. Since bottoming in the second week in August, it is now climbing back up again. Certainly its revamped website looks slick and polished.
Another gainer to watch is Nortel Networks. This heavyweight has been a favorite of The Successful Investor's Pat McKeough for quite some time. It has more than tripled from a split adjusted level of $21 in October 1998 to Friday's close at $70.60, a new high. Its move in the last week was helped along, no doubt, because Merrill Lynch included Nortel in its list of the top ten technology stock picks on Thursday. The Canadian giant joins such notables as IBM, Intel and Cisco, prestigious company indeed!
On the negative side, Topclick.com, is now in its fourth consecutive week of double digit losses. This Internet directory/search engine, has dropped from $1.81 four weeks ago to $0.77 on Friday, over 57%. This is the first time one of the stocks on my lists has made double digit moves in the same direction for four weeks.
This week I added two new stocks to our Canadian Internet Stock Average and dropped one from our Yankee Index. Added were Corel Corporation, makers of a variety of highly regarded graphics programs and the WordPerfect Office Suite, and Hummingbird Communications, highly regarded developers of ERP business software. The Internet is not a core business for either company, but it is a natural extension of the fields they are in, and they are both expanding in that direction, so I've added them here.
There may be some quibbles from purists who are looking for pure Internet plays, but I think that is wrong-headed. The purpose of these indexes is to give an overview of companies directly and indirectly involved in the Internet who stand to profit from it. In fact, companies that are indirect beneficiaries of the Net economy may be better investments than pure plays, which tend to be much more volatile.
One of the huge anomalies of, for example, Steve Harmon's highly regarded Internet Stock Index is that it doesn't include Microsoft. Microsoft, the manufacturer of Internet Explorer, one of the two most widely used web browsers around. Microsoft, the creators of the Microsoft Network. Microsoft, who have the third most highly trafficked websites on the entire Internet according to Media Metrix.
The Successful Investor's Pat McKeough notes that many Internet companies may well go bankrupt eventually, just as many start-up auto manufacturers around the turn of the century went belly up. "That's why you should invest in companies that were prospering even before the Internet came along," he says. Companies that "are likely to prosper all the more because of it."
Oh yes, that delisted stock - it's Innofone.com which got delisted by the OTC BB and is now off our Yankee Index.
Canadian Internet Stock
Index
Metamorphosis Index
Yankee Index
Our profile this week - Stox.com Ltd.
Comments? Suggestions? Why not post them on our Bulletin Board or email me.
E-mail me!
09/10/99 - Bear
Hunting Season
October approaches and some folks are getting edgy. Are we
heading for another October debacle like 1929 and 1987?
09/08//99 - Treasure
on Your Bookshelf
Got some dusty tomes on your bookshelf? They may be worth some
cool cash!
09/06/99 - Internet
Update: Travelbyus.com Profiled
Along with our Movers & Shakers list and updates to our
Internet indices, we profile Travelbyus.com.
09/03//99 - Island
in the Sun - Part 3: The Development
Getting through the bureaucracy was a struggle. Here's how it was
done!
09/01//99 - Island
in the Sun - Part 2: The History
A brief economic history of Hardy Island.
Disclosure: The author may own shares in some of the securities listed.
Schedule Changes: I've been doing articles on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, but will be shifting that to Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays as a new commitment ties me up Thursday evenings and my wife and I like to take advantage of cheap movie nights on Tuesdays.
Additonally, I'm looking at beefing up a neglected area - namely coming events. If you check out the Events Calendar you'll find it fairly filled up for this month, but navigating it is a bother. So I'm thinking of doing a weekly Events Page to bring the upcoming events into focus. Globefund has decided to drop their Advisors Page which provided a calendar of speaking engagements hosted by various investment advisors. I'd like to take up the slack left by Globefund's departure from the field, so if you want to publicize one of your upcoming events, drop me a line.
Currently reading: Krash: How Y2K Could Sink the Stock Market and What Canadians Can Do About It by Stephen Gadsden and Jonathan Chevreau. I'll be reviewing it here shortly, hopefully next Saturday.
I also recently received a review copy of Paul Lermitte's Allowances, Dollars and Sense: A Proven System for Teaching Your Kids About Money. That may take a few weeks to get to. But you may want to check out his new Making Allowances website in the meantime. It is a superb site for kids based on Paul's book.
Also I recently received a letter from someone who's company is now engaged in a lawsuit against UCC Total Home, the company I wrote about here in June. Seems there's also a class action lawsuit against the company. I'll be doing a follow-up on that article as a result of this new information.
This week I'll be doing our Monthly Mutuals Update. Watch for it Thursday.
Whew! So much to write about, so little time!