Blue Nile Inc.’s stock price rose sharply again last week, and the online jewelry retailer has done so well this year that one analyst firm said today it’s time to sell.
Shares in Blue Nile rose 14.8% last week, making it the biggest gainer among the 25 e-commerce stocks tracked by the Internet Retailer Online Retail Index. The index gained 2.5% for the week, outpacing the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which was up .8%, and the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index, which gained 1.5%.
With Blue Nile’s shares up 73% for the year, versus 12% for the S&P index, analysts Herman Leung and Jeetil Patel of Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. issued a report today urging investors to sell. “We think the good news—market share gains and easier diamond pricing—are well priced into shares at current levels,” Leung and Patel wrote. They noted they continue to believe that Blue Nile, No. 48 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, has an attractive business model and offers long-term value.
Blue Nile was one of 16 e-commerce stocks to advance last week, while nine lost value. The Internet Retailer Online Retail Index now stands at 127.4, meaning it’s increased by 27.4% from the Jan. 1, 2009, benchmark level of 100.
Here are the best-performing stocks last week in the Online Retail Index and the percentage price increase for each:
- Blue Nile, 14.8%
- American Greetings, 12.9%
- Systemax, 12.3%%
- GSI Commerce, 11.0%
- 1-800-Flowers.com, 9.2%
Here are the Online Retail Index stocks that performed least well last week and the percentage decline in stock price for the week:
- RealNetworks, -11.7%
- United Online, -9.6%
- Keynote Systems, -7.3%
- eBay, -4.2%
- NutriSystem, -3.3%.
The 25 companies in the Internet Retailer Online Retail Index are: 1-800-Flowers.com Inc., Akamai Technologies, Amazon.com Inc., American Greetings Corp., Art Technology Group Inc., Bidz.com Inc., Blue Nile Inc., CyberSource Corp., DemandTec Inc., Digital River Inc., Drugstore.com Inc., eBay Inc., GSI Commerce Inc., Keynote Systems Inc., LivePerson Inc., Netflix Inc., NutriSystem Inc., Omniture Inc., Overstock.com Inc., PetMed Express Inc., RealNetworks Inc., Shutterfly Inc., Systemax Inc., United Online Inc. (owner of FTD.com) and VistaPrint Ltd.
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