Top 10 Internet Stocks of 2006

While 2005's Internet winners were dominated by the themes of online advertising and gambling, 2006's key themes were China and broadband.  Four of the Top 10 stocks were focused on China while 3 were focused on broadband infrastructure.

To qualify for this list the company had to start 2006 with at least $50M in market cap and its business had to be focused on the Internet.  So, without further ado, here are the Top 10 Internet Stocks of 2005:

1. Navisite
   Price Change: 458% Ticker: NAVI
   Comment: If you need proof that hosting is hot again, look no further than Navisite.  This once left for dead application hosting company  had a huge year including  a suspiciously  strong December.
2. Gigamedia
   Price Change: 243% Ticker:GIGM
   Comment: What do you get when you combine China with gambling? An incredibly hot stock that's what.
3. China.com
   Price Change: 197% Ticker: CHINA
   Comment:  The right ticker at the right time.  With anything China related hotter than a  Szechuan Spicy  Beef, it was China.com's time to shine.  It didn't hurt that  they made a major move in online gaming too.
4. Akami
   Price Change: 167% Ticker: AKAM
   Comment:  Internet video was white hot in 2006 and Akami's CDN serves the most video of anyone so investors saw them as platform level pure play on the growth of internet video.
5. Knot.com
   Price Change: 129% Ticker: KNOT
   Comment: After a successful merger with long time competitor The Wedding Channel, the Knot.com proved that near monopoly positions in attractive internet content niches can be quite rewarding.
6. C-Trip
   Price Change: 117% Ticker: CTRP
   Comment: China's top online travel agency benefited from the overall China craze and increased travel by the emerging chinese middle class.
7. Omniture
   Price Change: 117% Ticker: OMTR
   Comment: The only IPO on the list.  Omniture didn't go public until mid-year but made up for its late start as it became the SASS darling of online analytics and took market share quickly.
8. The9
   Price Change: 111% Ticker: NCTY
   Comment: China.  World of Warcraft.  Need I say more?
9. Internet Gold
   Price Change: 100% Ticker: IGLD
   Comment: Israeli ISP rises due to merger with rival and ventures in online video and broadband access.
10. Priceline
    Price Change: 99% Ticker: PCLN
    Comment: Rising hotel and airline fares combined with increasing business travel send consumers scrambling to find cheap deals the Internet.