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Technology Stocks : Sagent Technology, Inc. (SGNT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Boaz who wrote (113)	2/4/2000 7:29:00 PM
From: Boaz	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 220

Gardner - read this. Where is SGNT in this story? Do we have an IR dept.? How about a PR budget? Are we going to join the party? Friday February 4, 3:57 pm Eastern Time Cognos roars to new record on sector strength By Susan Taylor OTTAWA, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Shares in software developer Cognos Inc. (Toronto:CSN.TO - news) (NasdaqNM:COGN - news) thundered to a new high on Friday, completing a week-long streak partially powered by a strong showing from competitors in the sector. Shares in the Ottawa-based firm lifted to a new high of C$108.00 on the Toronto Stock Exchange before pulling back to C$103.05 on light trade of 94,000 shares. The gain of C$13.05, or 14.5 percent, put Cognos in fourth spot for net gain leaders on the Toronto exchange on Friday. The stock has gained 39 percent this week from trade on Monday at C$74.25. Over the past four months, Cognos has added a remarkable 177 percent, or C$65.84, from its trade at C$37.20 on October 4. On Nasdaq, Cognos gained 9-9/18 on Friday to 71-1/2. ``The whole sector is on fire,' said Steve Abrahamson, analyst at Prudential Volpe Technology Group. ``The strong licence growth numbers posted by Business Objects, Brio, and other competitors in the space are an indication of strong market demand for business intelligence software.' Cognos sells software that organizations use to access, analyze, and report on data. ``Over the last few days some of our major competitors have announced their results, so obviously there's a whole segment doing well,' said Cognos spokeswoman Roberta Carlton. ``It's been an issue of momentum.' Cognos did not release any news on Friday, she said. Shares in Business Objects SA (NasdaqNM:BOBJ - news) set a new record high on Thursday after the Cognos rival reported a 1999 operating margin of 15.5 percent, well ahead of analysts forecasts of 12.5 percent. Goldman Sachs raised its target price for the France-based firm by nearly 100 percent to $140 after the results. Cognos competitor MicroStrategy Inc. (NasdaqNM:MSTR - news) showed a 36 percent jump in profit in its fourth quarter released January 28, while Brio Technology Inc. (NasdaqNM:BRYO - news) reported a third-quarter revenue gain of 52 percent on January 20. ``Compared to those names, the valuation on Cognos is very attractive,' Abrahamson said. On Friday Business Objects was trading at $101-1/2, up 3-3/4, Brio dipped 1-11/16 to 33-5/8, and MicroStrategy slipped 2-13/32 to 146-19/32. ``Also playing into the (Cognos) stock, I think, is they are in the midst of their seasonally strong fourth quarter, where they have more feet of the street and they're in the midst of a new product cycle: bringing out a new integrated platform,' Abrahamson said. Cognos, which closes its fourth quarter February 29, told analysts in its second quarter to reduce profit projections as the firm bulked up its sales staff to more aggressively pursue revenue growth. ($1=$1.44 Canadian)