It was quite the eulogy that The Wall Street Journal's James Altucher penned over the weekend.
In a column titled "The Internet Is Dead (As an Investment)," Altucher suggests that the Web's biggest players have been financial disappointments. Among the things he pointed out:
-
Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) would rather keep its stodgy old media businesses over AOL.
-
News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) is shaking up its MySpace-anchored online arm.
-
Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) continues to post losses in cyberspace.
Altucher believes that investors are better off in stimulus sympathy plays, such as companies that facilitate highway repairs or enable water infrastructure.
He may be right about the prospects of his picks. But he's dead wrong about the Internet.
Why did he pick the media heavies behind dot-com dinosaurs such as AOL, MySpace, and Hotmail? The trendiest Web magnets -- Facebook and Twitter -- are privately held, but some investors have done quite well with a little dot-com exposure in their portfolios.
I have recommended a few Internet companies to Rule Breakers newsletter subscribers. Two of the stocks -- Chinese search engine Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) and online-gaming specialist NetEase.com (Nasdaq: NTES) -- have gone on to more than triple since my recommendations.
China is a unique opportunity, but there is certainly growth to be found closer to home. Fellow analyst Tim Beyers recommended enterprise-software specialist salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) earlier this year. The cloud-computing poster child is trading nearly 50% higher today.
NetEase, salesforce,com, and Baidu are all growing quickly at a time when many companies are going in reverse. Why didn't Altucher single out the true stars of the Web? Why settle for companies that had lightning in a bottle a few years ago but let it get away?
Forget the high-octane Breakers. Isn't it convenient how Altucher sidestepped Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN), the leading online retailer that continues to gobble away at market share? Amazon shares have more than doubled since bottoming out in November.
All Altucher did was write off the Web stalwarts that Internet-savvy investors wrote off years ago. His eulogy comes too late for those companies, yet far too early for the true stars of the Internet revolution.
Other headlines for your surfing enjoyment:
Closed for 15 months – opening 10 days only! Get notified ahead of time as our expert portfolio manager invests $1 MILLION in the best opportunities from across The Motley Fool’s premium investment services. This is the first open since August 2008, by invitation only. Enter email below.
Terms & Conditions
RSS Headlines
Fool UK