MRCH, VIAN. SCNT. who will survive? Only SAPE?
MRCH has finally picked up some momentum. With so many analysts covering 13 strong buys and
12 moderate buys actual earnings and a peg of less than 1 its a wonder it hasn't move before this. As usual in this state of the market, vultures will most likely swarm over MRCH and VIAN and short them.. With luck they could move up late in the session or next week.
SCNT is still a favorite and it seems that only the strong will survive there is no reason to suggest that SCNT, VIAN and MRCH shouldn't enjoy some of the 'run' that SAPE only just enjoyed.
SCNT
The analysts also estimate the company will post earnings of 5 cents a share, which matches the consensus of 19 analysts surveyed by First Call. Scient lost 6 cents per share in the year-ago quarter.
Janesky says that "riskier dot-coms" owe Scient about $8.4 million, or 15 percent of the total $56 million the company has billed clients so far.
Despite the possibility of additional dot-com failures, McClellan (H & Q Hambrecht & Quist) remained optimistic. A shakeout will have a "moderating effect on (Scient's) earnings…Earnings growth might not be as high as expected, but it will still be impressive."
SAPE
Sapient, which helps companies formulate strategies for doing business on the Internet, reported second-quarter net income of $15 million, or 22 cents a share, up from $7.69 million, or 13 cents, a year ago. According to a survey of 20 analysts by First Call/Thomson Financial, Sapient was expected to earn 20 cents.
Revenue rose to $125.8 million from $64.2 million, a 96 percent increase.
Sapient stock gained $15.94 to $119.81 on a volume of 4.2 million shares, more than four times the average daily volume. The stock has traded within a range of $151.18 to $23.87 in the past 52 weeks.
"They had a very, very strong quarter," said Greg Gould, an analyst at Goldman Sachs. "Everything about the quarter was either better than expected, or if it met expectations, better than industry averages."
Sapient has "become better at raising prices, which they have not done as aggressively as they have in the past," he said. Gould also added that the company has done a "better job at pursuing the right kind of projects, recruiting for those projects and executing."
However, the quarter was not all rosy. About a month ago, competitor Scient announced that it will write off some fees from some failed dot-com customers. The news sent Internet consulting stocks lower on concern that consultants would suffer if more Internet companies imploded. |
