Prudential Securities is helping brokers get clients into the latest investing fad: Internet stocks.
In December, the firm introduced NetPort, a basket of five Internet stocks that investors can buy with a single ticket. For $15,000 and a normal commission, clients get an equal weighting of America Online, Cisco Systems, Oracle Corp., Vitesse Semiconductor and MCI WorldCom. The stocks can be held as long as a client wants, but can only be sold individually.
NetPort is the latest offering through the firms Autoport program, an order execution system developed in the early 1990s. The Autoport gives us a way to talk about market themes, says Mara Glassel, the firms head of equity marketing. If the Internet is hot, well do that. If the January effect is hot, well do that.
The firm has 10 Autoport portfolios available at any one time, offering conservative as well as risky choices.
The higher risk Autoports have been the most popular. The OTC Big-5 Autoport leads the pack, Glassel says. An ongoing Autoport, it features the five largest OTC stocks by market capitalization.
Autoports overall bring in an average of $4 million to $5 million a week, says Glassel, and as much as $8 million a week in hot markets.
Brokers can also ask the firm to create customized Autoports. Ive been thinking of creating an Autoport of the 10 high-quality biotech stocks, says a Prudential broker. The Autoport system helps you get diversification in individual stocks for clients without having to tell complete stories about each stock to every client.
