SkyMall, Internet Shares Soar
In the latest star of the e-commerce holiday sales fairy tale, SkyMall Inc. saw its shares rocket into the stratosphere Monday after the in-flight catalog retailer said it expects its Internet sales for the year to be 600 percent higher than last year.
Shares of (SKYM) in-flight catalog specialist climbed as much as 276 percent after SkyMall said it expects yearly sales on the Web of about $2.1 million compared with last year's sales of about $300,000.
The stock rose 35 9/16 to 47 in heavy trading.SkyMall said its Web site at www.skymall.com drew 15 million visits during December, more than triple from the year before. The number of hits during the fourth quarter jumped to about 28 million compared to about 8 million for the year-earlier fourth quarter.
"The total order volumes we processed on the busiest days this holiday season have proven that our Web-based infrastructure decision was right and is highly scalable for future growth," Chief Executive Robert M. Worsley said in a press release.
SkyMall was just one Internet stock of many to surge Monday, boosted by reports of hearty online retail sales over the holidays.
- America Online Inc. (AOL) soared 20 5/8 to 157 1/4.
- Internet auctioneer uBid's (UBID) shares surged 18 15/16 to 139 15/16.
- Internet service provider Internet America (GEEK) rose 6 1/4 to 50 1/4.
- Yahoo (YHOO) shares rose 28 3/8 to 275 1/2.
Written By Lisa J Ulmer