After hours warnings -->
General Electric (GE) 47.85 -0.92: -- Update -- Wall Street Journal reports that GE chief Jach Welch met several times with European
Competition Commissioner Mario Monti on Wednesday hoping to present the proposals that would satisfy European antitrust enforcers.
Companys's new proposals seek to relieve the European Commission's antitrust concerns in two areas: Honeywell's extensive range of
avionics products and GE's own aircraft financing and leasing arm. (this follows earlier GE comment on In Play).
Intl Paper (IP) 38.47 +0.09: Announces that it has commenced a private placement with institutional investors to raise proceeds of
approximately $1 bln from the issuance of Zero Coupon Convertible Debentures due June 20, 2021; see press release.
CTS Corp (CTS) 23.90 +0.73: Company warns that it expects Q2 loss of $0.05-0.10 vs current First Call EPS estimate of $0.08 profit,
due to continued softness in its markets; company feels confident of base EPS in the range of $0.40-0.60 before restructuring and related
one-time costs for the full year of 2001 (First Call FY01 concensus $1.02); see press release.
FMC Technologies (FTI) : Upcoming IPO prices 11.05 mln shares at $20, middle of revised $19-21 range; Merrill Lynch is lead; FTI
is a unit of FMC Corp, offering subsea drilling and production systems for the exploration and production of oil and natural gas.
EMC Corp (EMC) 30.30 -1.44: Bear Stearns comments after EMC gave the keynote at firm's conference: firm notes that company
did not pre-announce, as competitors had speculated; however, in talking with EMC, it is still a challenging quarter and very back-end
loaded; firm believes the key for the stock is not so much the fundamentals as it is the macroeconomic environment; notes that EMC
pointed out that it still believes there will be a pick up in Q4; company also discussed how it is taking longer to close business.
Micromuse (MUSE) 35.25 -8.26: -- Update -- Bear Stearns comments on MUSE's presentation at firm's tech conference today: despite
speculation that MUSE would pre-announce today or tomorrow, firm is still comfortable with its current estimates; however, firm says that
there is no question the current environment is challenging; firm does not think anything has changed materially and maintains its estimates for
the June quarter of $0.13 on revenue of $63.5 mln; Bear likes the story, but notes it is a volatile stock and says it would not be pounding
the table because it is a tougher environment out there... MUSE trading down to 33.41 after hours.
Redback Ntwrks (RBAK) 12.86 -1.11: Announces that the Board of Directors of Redback approved the declaration of a dividend
distribution of one Preferred Share Purchase Right on each outstanding share of its common stock. The Rights become exercisable if a
person or group acquires 15% or more of RBAK common stock or announces a tender offer for 15% or more of the common stock.
Company says the Rights are not being distributed in response to any specific effort to acquire the company; see press release.
United Tech (UTX) 80.26 -0.16: Company's Board of Directors authorizes the repurchase of up to 20 mln shares worth
approximately $1.6 bln based on current share price. The new authorization replaces the previous share repurchase authority; see press
release.
Crossroads Sys (CRDS) 5.96 -0.13: -- Update -- Stock trading up to 7.20 after hours following settlement of lawsuit with Pathlight;
CRDS market cap is up $34 mln after receiving a one-time payment of $15 mln.
Gentex Corp (GNTX) 28.98 -0.16: Company warns for Q2; sees $0.20-0.22 vs current consensus estimate of $0.24; cites slightly
weaker shipments worldwide of Night Vision Safety Mirrors, a delayed production start and continued higher investment in R&D; see press
release.
After Hours Movers : Warnings today from the usual suspects (IT resellers, storage, flash memory) have little impact: SSTI -0.9 vs 4 pm
close but not much action in competitors FLSH and SNDK; no indications currently on DSS or IM, but competitors not seeing significant
declines in after hours. MUSE down an additional 2+ points after hours, extending day's declines. ENZN -3.6 after announcing a
convertible note offering.
Quest Diagnostics (DGX) 62.90 -1.97: Company announces that it intends to raise $500 mln though an offering of senior notes as
part of a plan to refinance existing debt; see press release.
Ingram Micro (IM) 14.06 -0.11: -- Update -- On call, says that it expects Q2 gross margins to hold relatively stable on a sequential basis
despite the drop in revenues... conference call just concluded.
Ingram Micro (IM) 14.06 -0.11: -- Update -- In Q&A portion of call, says that declines were about the same and seen across all
product categories in Europe; whereas in U.S., the decline has been more substantial on the systems side; software doing a bit better than
overall market... did note that it has seen some stabilization in U.S. sales over the last 6 weeks, but not willing to call bottom, and not willing
to predict anything beyond Q2.
Ingram Micro (IM) 14.06 -0.11: -- Update -- On call, says that sales in U.S. in May and June were softer than expected; notes that it is
still too early to say it has hit bottom... similar trends seen in Europe... projecting Q2 sales in U.S. to be down in mid-20% range versus
previous expectation for decline in upper-teens; in Europe, expecting sales to drop 9-12% in U.S. dollars, or 3-6% in local currencies; rest
of world sales expected to be down 6-8% (Latin America expected to show yr/yr growth but gains being offset by declines in Canada and
Asia)
Crossroads Sys (CRDS) 5.96 -0.13: Company announces that it has settled its lawsuit with Pathlight Technologies, a subsidiary of
ADIC; Pathlight admits the validity and infringement of the CRDS patent and agrees to pay CRDS a lump sum of $15 mln for past damages
and a pre-paid royalty; see press release.
Silicon Storage (SSTI) 10.67 -0.15: Company warns for Q2; sees revenues of $60-68 mln and EPS of breakeven to $0.03 vs
consensus estimates of $83 mln and $0.06; cites excess inventory at customers and continuing slowdown in new orders; company does
note that inventories in PC and digital consumer sectors have been greatly reduced. Other flash memory stocks to watch: SNDK, FLSH,
and ATML.
Quantum DLT (DSS) 11.21 +0.06: -- Update -- Company also announces that it has withdrawn the IPO registration for Snap
Appliance, its network attached storage division, says Snap will remain part of DSS.
Tech Data (TECD) 30.10 -0.86: TECD shares trading down to 29.50 following warning from competitor Ingram (IM); TECD already
warned for the current quarter on May 30.
Enzon (ENZN) 68.70 +0.10: Company announces it intends to make a private offering of $400 mln of convertible notes, with an option
to issue an additional $60 million of notes. Stock trading down to 66.20 after hours.
Quantum DLT (DSS) 11.21 +0.06: Company warns for Q1 (Jun); sees revenue of $265-275 mln and EPS of $0.10-0.12 vs consensus
estimates of $298 mln and $0.17; cites continued slowdown in IT spending and weakness spreading to Europe.
Ingram Micro (IM) 14.06 -0.11: Company warns for Q2; sees revenues of $5.8-6.0 bln vs the Multex consensus estimate of $6.5 bln;
also sees income of breakeven to a loss -- current First Call consensus profit is $0.09. Company cites dramatic softening in demand for IT
spending in US, with this trend now spreading to Europe and other regions. This is the company's second warning for this quarter and third
warning this year. |
