EarthLink shares in orbit
Andrea Grosz at EVEREN securities upgraded the stock from a near-term "market perform" rating to a near-term "outperform."
 |
| EarthLink is beating back spammers and winning too. |
 |
Last quarter, the Pasadena, Calif.-based firm reported a loss of $6.5 million, or $0.59 per share, on sales of $24 million.
EarthLink (ELNK)added more than 190,000 members in 1997 and has achieved more than 40 percent of last year's performance in the first quarter of 1998 alone.
"Early on, we focused all of our efforts on making the Internet a friendly, productive place for newcomers, and not just on building big network backbones like our peers," said Sky Dayton, founder and chairman of EarthLink, in a prepared statement.
"By assembling an excellent management team and following through with consistent execution, we were able to turn this simple vision into an award-winning service."
In February, Sprint Corp. (FON) invested $230 million into EarthLink in a deal designed to help Sprint compete against AT&T Corp. (T) and America Online Inc. (AOL). The companies are battling for a potentially lucrative market for offering nationwide consumer Internet service.