AFTER THE BELL-Analog Devices, Sycamore up; NetApp down
NEW YORK, Nov 14 (Reuters) - The shares of Analog Devices Inc. (NYSE:ADI - news) surged in after-hours trade on Tuesday after the semiconductor equipment maker posted a fiscal fourth-quarter profit that by far bested Wall Street expectations.
Another strong gainer was Sycamore Networks Inc. (NasdaqNM:SCMR - news), an optical networking firm, which also reported upbeat results after the close of Tuesday's session, which saw a broad rally in technology issues.
But in the minus column was Network Appliance Inc.(NasdaqNM:NTAP - news) despite a rise in earnings reported by the computer network storage maker. Although its sales rise topped estimates, some analysts voiced fears about the company's revenue growth.
Analog Devices shares last traded at $61 on the Instinet electronic brokerage system, up from a close at $55-1/2 on the New York Stock Exchange for a gain of $7-5/16 then, before posting its results.
The Norwood, Mass.-based company, which also boosted its outlook for next year, said profit for the three months ended Oct. 31 rose 182 percent to $206.5 million. This represented earnings of 54 cents a share, which handily beat Street expectations of a profit of 50 cents per share.
Sycamore Networks shares last fetched $71-3/4 in the aftermarket, up from their close at $64-7/16, before issuing its results which showed a first-quarter profit that reversed a year-ago loss, while beating Wall Street estimates by a penny.
The improved results came amid worries of a spending slowdown for gear used in high-speed networks. Excluding special charges, it said it earned $6 million in the latest quarter, compared with a net loss of $4.1 million a year ago, while its revenue skyrocketed 517 percent to $120.4 million.
Meanwhile, Network Appliance shares fell to $87 on Instinet versus a close at $96-1/4 on Nasdaq, although the computer network storage maker reported second quarter sales and earnings on Tuesday that beat expectations.
It said net income rose 128 percent to $36.6 million, while sales rose 109 percent to $260.8 million. Its earnings per share were one cent higher than expectations on the Street, which had also forecast revenues of $255.3 million, according to market tracking company First Call/Thomson Financial.
But some analysts said they saw signs of a slowdown in sales growth.
WIT Soundview analyst Glen Ingalls said the earnings exceeded his forecast, but revenue growth slowed, which may explain the stock's battering in after-hours trading.
``It was just a matter of time before it (revenue growth) would decelerate,'' said Ingalls, who rates Network Appliance a buy.
In other after-hours activity, a number of technology heavyweights added to earlier gains when investors snapped up battered shares following reports of better corporate earnings from bellwethers like Britain's mobile telephone giant Vodafone (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: VOD.L)(NYSE:VOD - news). The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (^IXIC - news) rose 171.55 points to 3,138.27, or up 5.78 percent on Tuesday, chalking up its 10th largest percentage gain ever.
The most active in the aftermarket included computing giant Sun Microsystems (NasdaqNM:SUNW - news), which rose to trade last at $95 on the Island electronic platform, from its close at $94 on Nasdaq. Internet infrastructure company Juniper Networks (NasdaqNM:JNPR - news) rose to $187 from a Nasdaq close at $184, adding to its regular session gain of $19-29/64.
Oracle Corp (NasdaqNM:ORCL - news) last fetched $28.8125 on Island, up marginally from its close at $28-3/8 on Nasdaq, where it was the most active stock. The software titan had said earlier that it was in an online business deal with Citigroup Inc.(NYSE:C - news), the No. 1 U.S. financial services company. |
