LookSmart Ltd. (Nasdaq: LOOK) gained 1 1/8 to 14 Thursday after influential analyst Henry Blodget of Merrill Lynch began coverage of the stock with a long-term rating of buy and a near-term accumulate. Blodget expects operating results to break even by the second quarter of 2001.
LookSmart reported an operating loss of $9.5 million, or 11 cents a share, for the first quarter. Revenue rose 227 percent from a year earlier to $21.5 million. The company provides search services to Web portals, media companies and others.
Customers include Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) 
, Netscape, Time Warner, US West and Go2Net.
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