October 20, 1999 20:28
Corel shares lifted from depths by strong market
(All figures in U.S. dollars unless indicated)
OTTAWA, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Shares of beleaguered Canadian software maker Corel Corp. bounced higher on Wednesday, buoyed by a strong showing by high-tech issues in general and in particular by bets the stock had hit bottom.
The Ottawa-based company's shares plunged last week after insider trading charges were laid against Chief Executive Michael Cowpland by the Ontario Securities Commission.
But on Wednesday the stock rose nearly 14.5 percent, or C$1 a share, to C$7.90 on the Toronto Stock Exchange in heavy trade. On Nasdaq, the stock rose $2-1/32 to $5-11/32, a 14 percent gain.
"It's a strict rebound," said Duncan Stewart, fund manager at Tera Capital Corp. in Toronto. Technology firms found a favorable market on Wednesday, he added. "It's across the board -- we've got really good movers going on."
Corel did not release any news on Wednesday, said Vice President of Public Relations Stuart McCarthy, although it is promoting its new Linux desktop operating system to the U.S. trade press.
Corel's version of Linux, an open source system seen as a competitor to Microsoft Corp.'s Windows NT, will be unveiled by Cowpland at the Comdex trade fair November 15. "The Linux sector was dead as a doornail for a while and it's coming back fairly strong today," Stewart said.
Red Hat Inc. , for example, was up $3-1/4 to $80-5/8 on Nasdaq on Wednesday.
"It seems to be trading in tandem with Red Hat," said Jean W. Orr, analyst at Nutmeg Securities Corp. in Westport, Conn. She added that Corel gains reflect a strong market.
The surge comes in contrast to the hammering Corel took in the wake of four charges laid against Cowpland and his personal holding company. The shares sank from a close of C$9.45 on Oct. 14, when the charges were announced, to C$6.90 on Tuesday, a fall of 27 percent.
The charges, to be heard November 22, relate to Cowpland's sale of 2.4 million shares in mid-August 1997, for a total of C$20.4 million, weeks before Corel reported an unexpected
third-quarter loss. |
