E-commerce stocks advance

The Internet Retailer Online Retail Index gained more than 1% this week. Leading the gains was Netflix, whose stock price increased 22% after some analysts expressed optimism about its growth prospects. The stock price of Groupon, meanwhile, increased by 10%. The daily deal provider in late September said it would buy a restaurant reservation and discount service.

Stock prices tracked by the Online Retail Index last week increased by 1.10%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by 1.29% and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index increased by 1.41% in value last week.

Of the 25 stocks in the Online Retail Index, 15 had increases, while the stocks of nine companies decreased in value and one—Keynote Systems—remained flat.

Following are the best-performing stocks last week in the Online Retail Index and the percentage gain in stock price for each:

• Netflix, 20.3%

• Groupon, 10.1%

• Bluefly, 6.2%

• Blue Nile, 6.2%

• Systemax, 4.6%

Following are the Online Retail Index stocks that performed least well last week and the percentage decrease in stock price for the week:

• Coastal Contacts, -2.8%

• Vitacost, -3.1%

• Shutterfly, -5.0%

• Bidz.com, -6.5%

• U.S. Auto Parts Network, -12.7%

The 25 companies in the Internet Retailer Online Retail Index are: 1-800-Flowers.com Inc., Akamai Technologies, Amazon.com Inc., American Greetings Corp., Bidz.com Inc., Blue Nile Inc., Bluefly Inc., Coastal Contacts Inc., Digital River Inc., eBay Inc., eGain Communications Corp., Groupon Inc., Keynote Systems Inc., LivePerson Inc., Netflix Inc., NutriSystem Inc., Overstock.com Inc., PetMed Express Inc., Shutterfly Inc., Systemax Inc., U.S. Auto Parts Network, United Online Inc. (owner of FTD.com), ValueClick Inc., Vistaprint Ltd. and Vitacost.com Inc.