ECST Ecost.Com (MM)

William Blair & Company Initiates Coverage of eCost.com With Outperform Rating CHICAGO, Oct. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- William Blair & Company today announced that it initiated research coverage of eCost.com (NASDAQ:ECST) ($7.90), a multicategory online discount retailer of high-quality new, refurbished, and closeout brand-name merchandise, with an Outperform rating and company profile of Aggressive Growth. Analyst David Ricci estimated that the company would break even in 2004 before generating pro forma EPS of $0.02 in 2005. The earnings for 2004 have been adjusted assuming the initial public offering occurred at January 1, 2004. Both 2004 and 2005 pro forma earnings exclude the impact of noncash stock compensation charges. "We believe the company is well positioned to benefit from the emerging online retail closeout market, which we believe is fundamentally a more efficient way to clear much of closeout merchandise versus traditional liquidation channels such as discount retailers and outlet malls," Ricci said. "The competitive landscape is fragmented; we believe eCOST.com is well suited to gain market share if it executes efficiently in this rapidly growing field." William Blair & Company, L.L.C. ( http://www.williamblair.com/ ) is a Chicago-based investment firm, founded in 1935, offering investment banking, asset management, equity research, institutional and private brokerage, and private capital to individual, institutional, and issuing clients. As an independent, employee-owned firm, our philosophy is to serve our clients' interests first and foremost. William Blair & Company has offices in Chicago, Hartford, London, San Francisco, Tokyo, Vaduz, and Zurich. William Blair & Company, L.L.C. has received compensation for investment banking services from the company within the past 12 months, or expects to receive or intends to seek compensation for investment banking services in the next 3 months. William Blair & Company, L.L.C. was a manager or co-manager of a public offering of equity securities within the prior 12 months. William Blair & Company, L.L.C. is a market maker in the security of this company and may have a long or short position. For important disclosure information regarding the firm's rating system, valuation methods and potential conflicts of interest, please visit: http://www.williamblair.com/pages/news_story.asp?uid=734 Additional information is available upon request. William Blair & Company, L.L.C. is a member of the National Association of Securities Dealers, CRD number 1252. DATASOURCE: William Blair & Company, L.L.C. CONTACT: Tony Zimmer of William Blair & Company, L.L.C., +1-312-364-8611, Web site: http://www.williamblair.com/

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