Siebel may be signaling that the contraction in the tech sector is not quite over...
______________________________
Siebel Stock Falls Further, Analysts Cut Forecasts
Thursday April 11, 1:16 pm Eastern Time
NEW YORK, Calif. (Reuters) - Shares of software maker Siebel Systems Inc. (NasdaqNM:SEBL - news) fell a further 6 percent on Thursday, as analysts cut their forecasts after negative comments on the industry by CEO Tom Siebel the previous day.
Shares of Siebel, the world's No. 1 maker of customer service and sales software, traded $1.54 lower at $23.90 on the Nasdaq, after falling about 10 percent on Wednesday.
Speaking in Madrid, Spain, on Wednesday, Siebel said the contraction in the software industry was not over.
First Albany analyst Mark Murphy cut his estimate for 2002 revenue to $2 billion from $2.2 billion and earnings to 52 cents a share from 59 cents. For 2003, he sees $2.3 billion in revenue and earnings of 66 cents a share, down from $2.5 billion and 75 cents a share.
Patrick Walravens, an analyst at Jolson Merchant Partners, cut his rating on Siebel shares to a ``hold'' and also cut his outlook. He now expects Siebel to book $2.12 billion in revenue and earn 56 cents a share in 2002.
For 2003, Walravens expects the company to book $2.3 billion and earn 70 cents a share, down from revenue of $2.57 and earnings of 81 cents a share.
Credit Suisse First Boston cut its outlook for 2002, saying it expects Siebel's software sales to grow by 4 percent instead of the 12 percent analyst Brent Thill had previously expected and the 15 percent Siebel expected in January.
In a statement, the company said its chief executive was remarking on the industry as a whole and not the company in particular in a talk in Spain the previous day.
A report on the meeting by Bloomberg News had misrepresented the remarks and taken them out of context, the statement said. A Bloomberg spokeswoman said the news service stood by its story. She gave no further comment.
``Mr. Siebel made a number of remarks in response to questions about the state of the economic recovery and the software industry in general,'' the statement said. ``However, during this talk, Mr. Siebel explicitly declined to comment about the results of Siebel Systems, first-quarter operating results, and the outlook for the balance of the year.''
A Siebel representative declined to comment further.
Reporting on the meeting, Bloomberg quoted Siebel as saying, ``We haven't picked up yet,'' and ``The contraction is not over.'' In a later report, Bloomberg said Siebel was referring to the industry as a whole.
Murphy said the report was one factor in his decision. ``I would say the larger factors are the litany of software companies that have been confirming IT (information technology) demand is weak.'' |
