Looks like the drop is related to the sector rather than anything directly to do with Digital River. After getting hit hard, for no good reason, some of these are started back up on Friday. MCAF had a nice bounce on Friday and check the comments below.
siliconinvestor.com
thestreet.com
Accounting Takes a Toll on Software This Week
By Ronna Abramson
Staff Reporter
02/08/2002 08:44 AM EST
The list of software stocks battered by skittish investors grew longer each day this week.
On Thursday, Symantec (SYMC:Nasdaq - news - commentary - research - analysis), the
maker of Norton anti-virus products, became the latest addition to that list, after a
two-man boutique research firm in New Jersey issued a sell recommendation on the
stock. The day before, McAfee (MCAF:Nasdaq - news - commentary - research -
analysis), VeriSign (VRSN:Nasdaq - news - commentary - research - analysis) and
Computer Associates (CA:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis) shares
were hammered. PeopleSoft (PSFT:Nasdaq - news - commentary - research -
analysis), meanwhile, has steadily declined since the beginning of the year as the
share prices of its enterprise software competitors have increased.
.....................
And then there's software security company McAfee, whose shares declined 22% on
Wednesday for no obvious reason. Summit Analytic managing partner Richard
Williams, who issued a buy rating on McAfee Thursday, told Dow Jones that he feared
the drop was caused by concerns over the company's reclassification of an expense.
However, that explanation didn't make sense to McAfee CFO Evan Collins, who said that
the company made a point of explaining the reclassification -- of less than $10 million --
on its earnings call and in its press release on Jan. 16. Collins noted that the
reclassification had no effect on operating earnings.
"It doesn't impact cash or anything. That's what's kind of a little disconcerting about it,"
Collins said. He wondered if investors misunderstood and thought McAfee was
restating expenses rather than merely reclassifying them. "I'm not sure the average
investor understands the difference between a reclassification and a restatement," he
said.
But that explanation doesn't quite work either because that would mean the reaction
came weeks after the initial news. "There's no other news out there," said a flummoxed
Collins. "It's weird when the stock goes down and there's no news."
____________________________________________
Interesting after hours on DRIV too
quotes.nasdaq.com |
