Kushalini blog

Internet & Tech Page Helps Spot Winners

Despite the bursting of the dot-com bubble and the bear market of 2000 to 2002, Internet and technology stocks are far from being a thing of the past.

Some survived the hard times, while other new companies arrived with new products and services. Many of these firms have gone on to become some of the market's biggest winners year after year.

As an investor, you'll want to put fast-growing Internet and tech companies on your watch lists and be ready to pounce when they break out of bases. IBD's Internet & Technology section can help you find such potential leaders.

Read Internet & Technology each day to discover exciting, innovative companies that offer breakthrough products and services. The I&T section will also keep you up to speed on what's happening in the industry and emerging technologies.

Strong earnings and sales figures are always nice to see. But it also helps to really know a company and its industry inside and out.

Does a company offer products and services unmatched by rivals? And are they selling like hot cakes? Is the firm run by management that has demonstrated past success? The company profiles and Q & A features with management or industry experts on the I&T page will give you the scoop behind the numbers.

Why Tech Stocks Often Lead

Technology is really just a new, easier or more productive way of doing something. It doesn't always have to do with computers, hardware or software. At times you see stories about alternative energy and medical companies.

Remember when you had to drive to the video store to rent a movie? Thanks to Netflix (NMS:NFLX), you don't have to anymore. You can get DVDs by mail or just stream your movies online onto your computer or other Internet-enabled machine. The I&T section featured Netflix as far back as July 2002. The stock has risen 1,500% since making new highs in March 2003. And it's still a leader today, ranking in the top 10 of the IBD 100 for weeks.

Whenever companies wanted to run new programs and applications, they'd have to buy software, install it and maintain it. With cloud computing leader Salesforce.com (NYSE: - ), users don't have to mess with software. They can just access programs over the Web. Salesforce.com was first mentioned in the I&T section in July 2004.

Apple (NMS:AAPL), Google (NMS:GOOG) and Research In Motion (NMS:RIMM) frequently make the I&T page, but you'll find less-common names as well.

In the Jan. 22 edition's I&T section, IBD featured a chat with John McAdam, CEO of F5 Networks (NMS:FFIV). The maker of application delivery controllers, which are used to keep Internet traffic flowing, had just delivered a 30% gain in fiscal Q1 earnings.

The market fell into a correction Jan. 22, the same day as the F5 interview, but later followed through March 1. F5 cleared a shallow consolidation the same day 1 and gained 28% in eight weeks 2 from its buy point of 56.29. It emerged as a true market leader this year.