Domain Name Stocks Pummeled in 2008

Stocks of domain name companies take beating with the market — and beyond.

It’s been a rough year for stock markets, and domain name companies’ stocks are having a tough run as well. The good news is that two “pure play” domain companies’ stocks are performing much better than the market overall. Here’s a quick run down of domain related stocks and how they are doing year-to-date as of yesterday’s close. For comparison, the S&P 500 is down 15% this year.

Banks.com – AMEX: BNX – down 85% – It has been a rough year for Banks.com, which owns IRS.com and the now-defunct ParkingDots parking service. It looks like the company was forced to forward its IRS.com domain, which it is rumored to have paid $10 million for, to its main domain. This certainly cuts its revenue potential. It doesn’t help that the company is not meeting its covenants for a $7M note that could make it lose its underlying domains. Ouch.

Dark Blue Sea – ASX: DBS.AX – down 63% – DBS’s stock, which owns Fabulous, is suffering. Blame declining domain parking revenues or the falling U.S. dollar (the Australian company likely is paid in dollars for advertising), but it’s not pretty. Hopefully its sales agreement with GoDaddy will start showing results.

Tucows – AMEX: TCX – down 24% – The company showed off its domain portfolio to help prop up the company’s value, but its stock keeps sinking. It hit $.54 yesterday, down from $.71 on January 2.

Google – NASDAQ: GOOG – down 23% – As the market goes, so does Google. We’ll see if the company can withstand the attacks and if it can profit from Yahoo’s blunders.

VeriSign – NASDAQ: VRSN – down 7% – Automatic price increases help this company withstand the downturn. It’s beating the market this year.

Yahoo – NASDAQ: YHOO – down 6% – Do I need to talk about the saga here? Hopefully Yahoo management will figure this out. Or it will get new management.

Communicate.com – OTCBB: CMNN.ob – up 10% – Wow, big fluctuations in this stock. It got nailed pretty hard on Tuesday and I haven’t seen an explanation. But overall it is creating buzz. Name change pending to “Live Current Media”.

Marchex – NASDAQ: MCHX – up 20% – Marchex is betting on local and the jury is still out. But its stock is up a nice 20% this year.