Email this article Format for printing Receive via handheld  Subscribe to this feature

"I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying."
-- Woody Allen

BREAKFAST WITH THE FOOL
Excite@Home Excites 2 Million

By LouAnn Lofton (TMF Lou2)
August 23, 2000

Get out your noisemakers for Excite@Home (Nasdaq: ATHM). The broadband Internet cable access and content provider announced this morning that it's surpassed 2 million subscribers for its high-speed, always-on Internet service. Not included in that number are the subscribers that will be contributed from the recently announced international joint venture through Excite Chello.

George Bell, chairman and chief executive officer for Excite@Home, said, "Clearly consumers want a high-speed, always-on Internet connection through which to experience content and communication services in our optimized environment.... Subscriber numbers will continue to explode as people increasingly realize the benefits of a fast, always-on connection coupled with rich, personalized content." The company also said that broadband content page views have more than doubled since the launch of the Excite broadband portal.

Excite@Home reiterated its target of 3 million total subscribers by the end of 2000. The company said it will reach this number without counting the subscribers added through Excite Chello.

It took Excite@Home almost four years to get its first million customers signed up (reached in December 1999). The company got its next million customers in just eight months. Bell said, "This rapid subscriber growth reinforces the strength of the broadband market, which will only gain momentum in the coming years."

News to Go

Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) is expected to announce today that it will open an online car shopping area with Greenlight.com, according to CNET. The new venture should launch sometime this week. Amazon will put a store tab on its website that will link to Greenlight. The move comes about a week after Amazon removed a tab on its site that linked to the now bankrupt Living.com. Amazon bought a 5% stake in Greenlight back in January, in exchange for payments from Greenlight of $82.5 million over five years for marketing and promotion.

Supermarket chain Albertson's (NYSE: ABS) warned Tuesday that its fiscal second-quarter earnings will come in lower than previously expected. Excluding merger-related costs, the company expects to earn $0.50 per diluted share for the quarter. Including those costs, earnings per share will be $0.46. The consensus estimate according to First Call/Thompson Financial for the grocer's second quarter was $0.62.

Semiconductor manufacturer Semtech (Nasdaq: SMTC) reported its second-quarter earnings yesterday. The company's earnings per share beat the First Call/Thompson Financial estimate of $0.34 by coming in at $0.36 a share. Net income was $13.7 million. Last year in the same quarter, the company earned $0.18 a share, or $6.2 million. Sales for the quarter were $60.6 million, up from $38.3 million last year. Semtech also announced a two-for-one stock split.

Department store chain Dillard's (NYSE: DDS) announced its second-quarter results this morning. The retailer's sales for the period were $1.84 billion, down from $1.89 billion in the same quarter last year. Same-store sales decreased by 3%. The company's net income for Q2 was $13.8 million, compared to $36.2 million a year ago. Earnings per share for the quarter were $0.15, versus $0.34 for last year's second quarter. The First Call/Thompson Financial consensus estimate for the company's second-quarter earnings per share was $0.19.

Check out yesterday's Foolish market wrap-up with just a single click.

Editor's Picks