Buy.com Stock Offering Likely to Go on Nasdaq Board Tuesday

Internet retailer Buy.com Inc. expects its hotly anticipated initial stock offering to be priced Monday, with Nasdaq trading to begin Tuesday, a company spokeswoman said. The Aliso Viejo online superstore has announced plans to sell 14 million shares at $10 to $12 a share in an effort to raise as much as $168 million. The sale originally was targeted for mid-January, but was delayed. The company, which is in the so-called quiet period, did not provide an explanation. Buy.com mainly sells computer hardware and software, but also offers books, videos and consumer electronics. Initially, it made a splash by offering products at cost or at a loss, theorizing that heavy consumer traffic would lead to profits from the sale of advertising on its Web site. The profits never materialized. The company recently reported estimated fourth-quarter revenue of $200.6 million, a threefold increase over the previous year. But even with the impressive holiday-season results, sales costs exceeded revenue by about $2 million. The company has reshaped its strategy somewhat, using loss leaders to steer customers to higher-margin products.