Commerce One Beats Forecast, Stock Jumps
By Lisa Baertlein
PALO ALTO, Calif. (Reuters) - E-business software provider Commerce One Inc. (NasdaqNM:CMRC - news) on Thursday said acquisitions and alliances helped the company post a narrower-than-expected third-quarter operating loss, and the news prompted a jump in its share price in after-hours trading.
The company said its net operating loss was $14.7 million or 9 cents per share, compared with a net operating loss of $10.3 million or 7 cents per share in the year-ago period. Those results excluded interest, income tax and acquisition-related costs.
The latest results beat Wall Street's consensus forecast for a third-quarter loss of 12 cents per share, according to First Call/Thomson Financial.
``We continue to make good progress on our path to profitability,'' Mark Hoffman, Commerce One's chief executive officer, said in a statement. He added that he expects the company to be profitable in the second quarter of 2001.
Commerce One makes software and provides services to link buyers and sellers in Internet trading communities. During the third quarter, the company completed its acquisition of AppNet Inc., formed a strategic alliance with Microsoft Corp., added 96 new customers and increased its number of e-marketplaces to 107.
Revenues at the Pleasanton, Calif.-based company rose to $112.7 million from $10.4 million in the year-ago quarter.
Commerce One's third-quarter net loss was $60.6 million or 37 cents per share, compared with $10.4 million or 7 cents per share during the same period a year ago.
In a telephone interview, Hoffman tried to allay analysts' creeping concerns that increased competition and a slowdown in customer demand could hamper revenues in the Internet's business-to-business sector, where companies like Commerce One and its main competitor Ariba Inc. (NasdaqNM:ARBA - news) now dominate.
Hoffman downplayed the threat of competition, saying that Commerce One is a ``big time'' player with more than 50 percent market share in major Internet trade marketplaces including aerospace, oil and gas and automotive.
``I think we're only at the very early stage of this marketplace. This marketplace has tremendous growth ahead of it,'' he said.
Commerce One shares, which closed up $4-11/16 to $63-7/8, were about $6 higher in after-hours trading.
Ariba was up more than $2 from its closing price of $130-31/36. |
