Loosening The Knot

Shares of matrimonial resources hub The Knot (Nasdaq: KNOT  ) got some well-deserved wedding cake in the face yesterday, after the company announced an excessive secondary offering.

The company announced a deal to sell 7.95 million shares, with 4.45 million of those shares coming from bailing insiders. Not cool. A secondary was expected after the company announced a mostly cash deal to acquire rival WeddingChannel.com. But saddling the offering with insider selling is just wrong. It's the equivalent of asking your fiancee if you can take your mother along on your honeymoon.

It's a rare selfish moment for a company that has done little to disappoint investors over the past year. The Knot has blown away analyst profit targets in three of the last four quarters. It caters to the ideal audience of young folks with open checkbooks at a vulnerable moment. If you're a wedding singer, planner, or banquet-hall manager, you likely have no problem paying The Knot for access to a growing audience that's bent on sealing their nuptials in style.

Online referral specialists can be hit or miss. Companies like The Knot and Bankrate (Nasdaq: RATE  ) have been big winners, while others, like Insweb (Nasdaq: INSW  ) and Autobytel (Nasdaq: ABTL  ) , have struggled. The victors seem to have chosen lucrative niches and carved out syndicated content empires, building moats and establishing market superiority in referral fields that could have easily succumbed to being mere commodities.

The Knot has branded itself well. From print publications to book deals to televised content, The Knot has become the definitive source for wedding-day preparations. Snapping up WeddingChannel.com gives it the ability to corner the somewhat patent-protected market of online bridal registries, too.

It's a great story, but one now tested by this bloated secondary offering. Investors may be discouraged to see such a massive wave of insider selling. The fattening of the float isn't all that encouraging, either.

I still love you to death, The Knot. I just don't know if my new mother-in-law will fit in our honeymoon suite.

The Knot was recommended to Motley Fool Rule Breakers subscribers six months ago, and it has already gone on to appreciate by 46%. Bankrate was also a winning pick, appreciating by roughly 50% before David Gardner recommended a sell on those shares. You can learn more about The Knot and the other newsletter market-beaters with a free 30-day trial subscription.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz got married years before TheKnot.com was around, and he regrets that. He could have had a punctual person working the video camera that day. The Fool has a disclosure policy. Rick is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early.