Ask Jeeves (Nasdaq: ASKJ) has added another weapon to its arsenal in the search wars, having revealed a new feature for its site. Now, people who use Ask.com can scout out some search results before clicking and committing.
The search engine's new beta feature, "Binoculars," allows users to pass their cursor over a binocular icon next to some results and get a small, visual preview of a site before actually clicking on the link and leaving Ask.
The feature will likely save surfers who choose to ask Jeeves a lot of time and mouse clicks. Ask Jeeves says that according to an independent user study, the new feature reduces the number of clicks it takes to get relevant results by 50% to 70%.
Other new features Ask Jeeves announced today include streamlined wedding registry info, info on movies and celebrities, and people search.
With search being a big moneymaker that's not only attracting attention to Google's coming IPO, but also luring big names like Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) into the arena, Ask Jeeves is proving itself to be quite the scrappy underdog.
And it doesn't hurt to mention that Ask Jeeves has been quickly adding some innovative solutions to search, having only just recently said that it seeks to allow users to search their PC desktops through its acquisition of Tukaroo.
Ask Jeeves has been showing earnings strength, and that, coupled with the company's interesting and innovative recent additions to search, might make it tempting to jump into the stock.
However, it's important to note that the stock has more than doubled since this time last year. Meanwhile, Ask Jeeves forecasts earnings of $1.04 per share this year, which means it's currently trading at about 33 times forward earnings. Given the innovative and formidable competition the company faces in the search category, despite its innovations, investors might want to wait for a cheaper entry point before jumping into Jeeves.
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Alyce Lomax does not own shares of any of the companies mentioned.
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