William Blair & Company Initiates Coverage of eCost.com With Outperform Rating

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.,

[phone],  



Web site:  http://www.williamblair.com/ 

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