BEAS ($18-$19) P/E 148 Beat by 1 cent. Rev's light. Lower Guidance for Q3.
Tuesday August 14, 8:05 pm Eastern Time
BEA lowers guidance, stock jumps
(UPDATE: previous dateline SAN JOSE, California, changes 1st paragraph, adds analysts' comments, CEO comments, stock price)
By Ilaina Jonas
NEW YORK, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Electronic commerce software maker BEA Systems Inc. (NasdaqNM:BEAS - news), on Tuesday lowered its outlook for the remainder of the year, and its recently hammered stock price jumped in after-hours trading as the news was not the disaster some had thought.
BEA, whose WebLogic software forms a foundation on which developers build Web programs and whose other products allow companies to put their business on the Web, finally succumbed to the downturn in technology spending, and lowered guidance for the next two quarters and year.
As one of the last holdouts to bow to the economic factors, San Jose, California-based BEA until this point had stuck to its year outlook issued in January.
We're obviously bowing to the macro economic situation," Chief Executive Bill Coleman told Reuters.
In after-market activity on Instinet, following the announcement, shares of BEA traded at $19.50, up 90 cents from its close of $18.60.
Fourth-quarter revenue was expected to grow by about the mid to low digits, which would result in a total lower than the $350 million the company previously saw.
For the year, BEA now sees generating $1.1 billion in fiscal 2002, with earnings, before items, in the range of 39 to 41 cents a share, compared with the 41 cents analysts had expected, according to Thomson Financial/First Call.
PRETTY GOOD BARGAIN
``Everyone expected some weakness and they expected a weaker outlook and that's what we got,'' Merrill Lynch Vice President Chris Shilakes said.
But it wasn't the doom and gloom some expected and the stock now looks like a pretty good bargain, having lost 50 percent of its value since June, he said.
``It's down in 18-20 dollar range,'' Shilakes said. ``I think there's a lot of interest given where the stock has dropped.''
For the second quarter ended July 31, BEA earned $24 million, or 6 cents a share, compared with $2.3 million, or 2 cents a share in the second quarter 2000.
Although the number of deals in the quarter rose, the average deal size, usually about $100,000, fell slightly, Coleman said. Eleven deals were over $1 million, about the same as last quarter, and one exceeded $5 million.
``People are really only doing thing to help them now,'' he said. Excluding acquisition-related expenses, employer payroll taxes on stock options exercised and net gains on investments and securities one-time charges, BEA reported pro forma net income of $43.9 million, or 10 cents a share, up from $21.9 million, or 5 cents a share in the same period last year. |
