To: Souze who wrote (20058 ) 8/18/1999 8:51:00 AM From: LastShadow Read Replies (1) | Respond to
Wednesday - After Hours: With rate concerns pushed to the back burner by another benign inflation report, traders can once again focus on earnings, and the news after the close was encouraging... Techs likely to extend their recovery gains on the back of strong numbers from industry leaders, Dell (DELL) 41 1/8, Applied Materials (AMAT) 71 3/4 and Lycos (LCOS) 42 5/16... Dell reported a gain of $0.19, two cents better than expected on a 41.8% jump in revenues... As we expected in our earlier Story Stock on the company, slightly better than projected top line growth fuelled by big gains in the European (+24%) and Asia/Pacific (+52%) regions... Americas region posted sales growth of 48%... Dell noted that it sees strong demand in the second half as well... Combination of positive earnings surprise and bullish forward outlook should give stock a major lift over the near-term... Stock already up over two points in after hours activity... Applied Materials bested the street by eight cents in posting a gain of $0.61... Revenues rose by a stronger than expected 61.7%... Despite headlines, traders focusing on order growth and here there is cause for near-term concern as orders came in shy of some estimates... Could result in slim downward adjustments to earnings estimates for next one to two quarters... However, with company anticipating the market for chip equipment to double in the next 5 years, any sell-on-the-news reaction to tonight's number will provide good (re)entry opportunity for long-term investors as AMAT is the clear leader in the industry...Stock down nearly 2 points in after hours trading... Lycos earned $0.01 for the period, one cent better than expected and well above year-ago quarter... Revenues surged 137.4% year/year, and 34% qtr/qtr... Page views and registered users grew by 17% and 20% (qtr/qtr), respectively... Company also announced that it is considering an IPO for Lycos/Europe... Strong top-line growth, move to profitability and solid balance sheet ($153 mln in cash) suggest that company will extend its rebound in the days and weeks to come... First resistance is in the 45 area... Just so you don't think we focus on techs to the exclusion of all else, leading retailer Kohl's (KSS) 71 3/4 +2 5/16 posted a quarterly gain of $0.27 v. consensus of $0.23 on a 23.8% jump in revenues... One of the best performing retailers poised for test of the 80 area. -- RW
