5/16/2000

The Bulls 1. NetOptix 2. Natural Microsystems Corp. 3. Interleaf Inc. 4. Cubist Pharmaceuticals 5. Seachange International [ See complete chart ] The Bears 1. J. Jill Group 2. Raytheon Co. 3. Mac-Gray Corp. 4. Lifeline Systems Inc. 5. RoweCom Inc. [ See complete chart ]

Taking the ''com'' out of RoweCom isn't the answer to the company's troubles, but it might be a good start.

Executives at the Westwood firm, which manages online subscriptions for businesses, grumble that RoweCom is often lumped together with the dot-coms.

And that's not a good association, now that the stocks of once-hot electronic commerce players are trading at record lows. RoweCom's shares declined 61 percent from $43.63 on March 31, 1999, to $17 on March 31 of this year.

''We have failed to make the differentiation between us and dot-com companies,'' acknowledged chief executive Richard Rowe.

Executives want to do a better job of describing what RoweCom does: It sells services that enable corporations and universities to get desktop access to books and periodicals.

But the name and corporate description aren't the company's only challenges. Most of RoweCom's revenue comes in the fourth quarter, unnerving investors who like to see steady growth throughout the year.

Investors grew edgier in January, when a J.C. Bradford analyst spotted an accounting error related to a previous RoweCom acquisition.

Soon after, RoweCom and NewsEdge Corp. abandoned merger plans and instead opted for a partnership. A major NewsEdge stockholder had opposed the buyout.

Last year, RoweCom's sales rose to $307.6 million from $19 million in 1998. But it lost $15.1 million in 1999, compared to $7.6 million the prior year.

STEPHANIE STOUGHTON