Friday softens Internet stocks as about 2/3rds of the 50 stocks in ISDEX drop, some of it on profit taking after a strong week runup.
AOL (NYSE:AOL) is in talks to produce an AOL-branded box for Internet access. Box maker? MicroWorkz, who puts out a $200 or less PC running, get this, without Windows. AOL also rumored to have its eye on free email service Juno (NASDAQ:JWEB), which is an ’email service provider’ in my lexicon. ESP. Juno users don’t need a Web or ISP they just dial in and check email.
With AOL Juno could be huge as AOL can market this as a very simple service for newbies to the Internet. And email has a long way to go. Think of everyone 12 and over having an email account in the U.S. I think it’ll happen in the next 5 years, email used as unified messaging for voice, text, fax. Having run on rumor I can’t see much more upside here in JWEB, maybe it gets $1 billion valuation in a takeover. It’s $903 million now.
Broadvision (NASDAQ:BVSN) gains from being named to BusinessWeek’s Infotech 100 list. The Web marketing software maker has had runs in past months on the hot again, cold again, hot again 1-to-1 marketing war. I am more a fan of outsourced marketing solutions, turnkey service, plug and play commerce. BVSN could be a factor long term but it’ll have to consider its approach I believe.
Juniper Networks (NASDAQ:JNPR) rockets from is $34 per share IPO price to $106 before settling at $98 7/8. Juniper is seen as a upstart rival to Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) in some ways with its fast routers. I think we’re in for another round of infrastructure stocks in hardware and software gaining prominence (and probably being acquired).
Stamps.com (NASDAQ:STMP) goes public and gains a few points from its IPO price, ends the day at $13 11/16, up 24%. I like its model but I think it’s still waiting on U.S. Postal Service approval to let its customers print their own stamps. A critical part of its business model for sure.
