A recent downgrade from Raymond James after the Q1 CC
Friday May 4, 12:05 pm Eastern Time (2001)
RESEARCH ALERT-Symbol Tech cut to market performer
MIAMI, May 4 (Reuters) - Raymond James & Associates on Friday cut to market performer from buy its investment
recommendation on Symbol Technologies (NYSE:SBL - news), saying the maker of bar code scanners may encounter slowing sales growth.
``We are cutting our internal revenue growth for 2001 from 20 percent to 8 percent, resulting in a 15 percent EPS (earnings per share) reduction,'' analyst Chris Quilty said in a research note.
Revenues in 2001 would be about $1.87 billion, not the $2.06 billion he had been forecasting, Quilty said. Quilty also cut his 2002 revenue forecast to $2.06 billion from $2.49 billion. Revenues at Symbol were $1.449 billion last year.
Quilty said he was now forecasting that Symbol would earn 75 cents a share in 2001, instead of the 88 cents he had been forecasting before the Holtsville, New York, seller of portable data terminals issued first-quarter results late Thursday.
Symbol, which earned 61 cents last year, should earn $1 a share in 2002, or 22 cents less than he had been forecasting, Quilty said.
While Symbol reported quarterly share profits of 12 cents, above Wall Street forecasts that had ranged from 9 cents to 11 cents, the company's managers said they were reducing revenue growth targets, Quilty said.
``We also believe that alternate technologies may undercut the potential growth opportunity for selling embedded laser scanners in consumer devices,'' a key growth segment for Symbol, Quilty said.
Symbol shares were off 5 percent, or $1.41, to $26.10 in midday trading on The New York Stock Exchange.
(- Michael Connor - Miami newsroom, +1 305-374-5013, fax +1 305-358-6317, or miami.newsroom@reuters.com)) |
