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Technology Stocks : LHSP: Lernout En Hauspie -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: the dodger who wrote (2227)	7/6/2000 5:29:19 PM
From: cdtejuan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2467

hmmmm, while the company says it is happy with the new first call consensus of .56-.58, i found out the old was 0.69. still a nice rise vs .69 but i dont like this. seems buy rentry was to premature. will wait till30 till i add more. juan Thursday July 6, 4:08 pm Eastern Time Lernout comfortable with 2000 EPS forecast (UPDATE: adds analyst quote, details, updates share price) By Gilles Castonguay BRUSSELS, July 6 (Reuters) - Belgian speech technology company Lernout & Hauspie (NasdaqNM:LHSP - news) said Thursday analysts' estimates for profit and revenues in 2000 and 2001 were in line with the company's own views. ``We feel comfortable with the forecasts,'' Chief Executive Gaston Bastiaens told Reuters. Bastiaens referred to estimates provided by First Call/Thomson Financial. A review of the First Call estimates on Lernout accessed by Reuters on the Internet cited one analyst's forecast for operating profit of $0.58 per diluted share for 2000 and $1.18 for 2001. First Call also carried a consensus estimate by two analysts for an operating profit of $0.56 per diluted share for 2000. Bastiaens also said that analysts had forecast revenues of more than $700 million for 2000 and $1.2 billion for 2001. Lernout this year has made several substantial acquisitions, which will be consolidated in results from 2000. Bastiaens spoke to Reuters following a recent company filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in which it said sales in 1999 and the first quarter of 2000 had surged in South Korea and other parts of Asia. But it warned that maintaining that growth pace in the region could be hampered by economic or political developments. SHARE PRICE FALLS Lernout made the filing with the SEC last Friday, when its shares on the U.S. Nasdaq market closed at $44.0625. The shares on Thursday at 1850 GMT were trading down $1.38 at $35.44, representing a drop of 19.5 percent since last Friday. On the pan-European Easdaq exchange in Brussels, Lernout shares on Thursday closed down $4.375 at $34.875. The share last Friday closed at $42.750 on the Easdaq. The SEC filing was Lernout's first under U.S. regulations applying to domestic companies, which require greater disclosure than those governing foreign companies. Lernout's status was changed to a U.S. company following its recent acquisition of two U.S. firms. The filing provided Lernout's first disclosure of the geographic breakdown of revenue contributions. Singapore was responsible for $80.3 million of total 1999 revenues after $29,000 the prior year, while South Korea generated $62.3 million after accounting for $245,000 a year earlier. In 1999, Lernout acquired South Korea's Bumil Information & Communication Co., a developer of interactive voice, call centre and other telephony applications. Analysts had faulted Lernout for not providing more information, including raising questions about the geographic mix. ``I would like to have more information. Lernout is well aware of this,'' said Fortis Bank analyst Patrick Michielsen, who earlier this week reduced his second quarter earnings estimate for Lernout to $0.03 a share from $0.18 and cut his revenue forecast for the quarter to $138 million from $173 million. COMPANY SEES SALES GROWTH Lernout's Bastiaens said sales would grow this year. ``We see further (sales) growth in Asia, but faster growth in America and Europe,'' he told Reuters in a telephone interview. Bastiaens said the company expected a surge in growth in the United States and Europe during the second half of 2000. In 2001, the United States would generate about 40 percent of total sales, while the other two regions would each generate about 30 percent, he said. Dictation and transcription systems for hospitals and answering systems for call centres would be some of the products driving growth, especially in the United States, he said. In June, Lernout completed a $460 million acquisition of U.S. voice technology company Dragon Systems Inc., which had revenues of $61 million in 1999. One month earlier, it completed an acquitision of U.S.-based Dictaphone Corp., which is involved in dictation and telephony call centre recording systems. In 1999, it had revenues of about $350 million. Lernout made several other smaller acquisitions in the medical transcription field in the United States earlier in the year.