Scott, is ARBA (Ariba) a turnaround play?
Ariba is a very interesting company right now. Like Verticalnet, which I mentioned earlier, Ariba is focused on selling software and services to corporate enterprises. However, unlike Verticalnet and Commerce One (CMRC ) and many other companies that have emphasized the B2B exchanges, Ariba has kind of returned to its roots in procurement. While we think it’s probably too early to expect great things from Ariba’s stock (thus our hold recommendation), we do believe the company is in the midst of successfully implementing a turnaround. And we are impressed by many of the things the company has done over the past six months or so. We actually believe that the company will be a long-term survivor. And the stock doesn’t look too expensive at 21 times our fiscal year ’03 (ending in September) estimate. Q: Is eBay (EBAY ) too pricey at these levels? A: I’ll admit it. I love eBay as a company, as a business model, and even as a site. I visited with the company in November, 2000, when the dot-c
