Bill Martin and Matt Ragas Highlight the Following Stocks: GSI Commerce, Western Gas Resources, Horizon Offshore, Pride Int'l, Parker Drilling, and Ask Jeeves.

Business Editors

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 21, 2003

The real status of the economy lies in between what the bond and stock markets think right now. That middle ground can be very fertile, and Bill Martin and Matt Ragas continue to reap profit potential through unique market analysis and several stock recommendations. Get their takes on GSI Commerce (NASDAQ:GSIC), Western Gas Resources (NYSE:WGR), Horizon Offshore (NASDAQ:HOFF), Pride International (NYSE:PDE), Parker Drilling (NYSE:PKD), and Ask Jeeves (NASDAQ:ASKJ). Click here for the full story exclusively on Zacks.com: http://featuredexpert2bw.zacks.com/

Here are the highlights from the Featured Expert column:

In the wake of a slew of recent insider buys at GSI Commerce (NASDAQ:GSIC), a division of Comcast QVC made a filing with the SEC recently, revealing that it too has been a recent buyer of GSIC stock. These purchases correspond to a slew of insider buying that took place at roughly the same time. It's unclear who the block seller was. Along with the recent insider buying, this purchase by Comcast QVC is a nice vote of confidence in GSIC. QVC is a small customer of GSIC.

Bill and Matt expect natural gas prices to stay at historically high levels for the foreseeable future due to the continued acceleration of US natural gas production decline rates, and because of a limited number of new production prospects. This bullish view on natural gas has led them to invest in Western Gas Resources (NYSE:WGR), and to make an aggressive basket bet on several energy and drilling services companies, including Horizon Offshore (NASDAQ:HOFF), Pride International (NYSE:PDE), and Parker Drilling (NYSE:PKD). So far, all of these bets have paid off nicely, although they continue to believe that the bet is at a nascent stage and that much upside remains in all of these plays.

On Friday, shares of Ask Jeeves (NASDAQ:ASKJ) jumped over 10% after the company announced that Google's pay-per-click (PPC) AdWords program will be integrated into ASKJ's UK sites. This is good news for ASKJ, since it further enhances the perception on Wall Street that ASKJ is a mini-"Google Proxy." In the short run, Bill and Matt expect ASKJ to continue to post strong operating momentum over the next 2-3 quarters. Medium to long term, however, they continue to believe that ASKJ is at the losing end of a market share game with Google/Yahoo!/MSN and even Overture. Thus, while ASKJ's results look good in the short run due to improved revenue per customer, ASKJ's customers as a slice of the overall search pie are likely going to continue to remain flat or decrease in the coming quarters due to fierce competition.

Let Bill Martin and Matt Ragas uncover other corners of the market where you can find profit by clicking: http://featuredexpert3bw.zacks.com/

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