Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
What: Shares of Endurance International Group (EIGI) plunged more than 15% early Tuesday after Google (GOOGL 1.38%) (GOOG 1.28%) announced a new domain registration service. Endurance wasn't alone in its fall, as shares of fellow Web services company Web.com (NASDAQ: WWWW) also dropped more than 21% today.
So what: In a blog post yesterday afternoon, Google quietly announced it has begun "to invite a small number of people to kick the tires on Google Domains, a domain registration service we're in the process of building."
While Google readily admits Google Domains "isn't fully featured yet," the market is naturally assuming this is bad news for Web.com and Endurance International. Endurance, for its part, serves as a cloud-based solutions provider and parent of several related brands, including Domain.com, BigRock, Bluehost, and HostGator.
Now what: Note that both Endurance International and Web.com each already boast relatively mature cloud services platforms that don't solely rely on domain name registration. That's not to say the Web behemoth that is Google couldn't eventually compete, so this is certainly a threat worth considering for investors in both companies. At least for now, though, I don't think Big G poses an imminent threat to either Endurance or Web.com.
