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Strategies & Market Trends : The Amateur Traders Corner -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: gladman who wrote (5743)	1/29/2001 2:41:23 PM
From: Tom Hua	Respond to of 19633

Dave, DCNT CEO already gave a preview of earnings last Friday, there shouldn't be any surprises. The wide range in revenue is a teaser. Regards, Tom =DJ Docent CEO Sees 4Q Loss Of 26c-28c/Shr, Rev $4.7M-$5.8M 26 Jan 14:47 By Kaja Whitehouse of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Docent Inc. (DCNT) hasn't seen a softening in demand for online learning and expects to post in-line or narrower-than-expected fourth-quarter pro forma losses of between 26 cents and 28 cents a share on revenue of between $4.7 million and $5.8 million, said Dave Ellett, president, chairman and chief executive. "We had a really good quarter, and it's going to be stronger than analysts' expectations," Ellett told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview Friday. A First Call/Thomson Financial consensus estimate of three analysts has the maker of online learning software posting a pro forma loss of 28 cents a share. Last quarter, the company provided revenue guidance of $4.6 million. Some on Wall Street had feared that demand for online learning products had slowed after Click2Learn.com Inc. (CLKS) warned it would fall short of expectations due to reduced orders amid a weakening economy. But Docent, is "not seeing any weakening" in the market, Ellett said. In fact, Docent has "seen just the opposite," with "several ... new major enterprise deals and good repeat business," said Ellett. The company boasts fourth-quarter sales to more than 20 new clients, and about 10 customers who "added on to existing contracts," he said. Average deal sizes, or revenue from license sales of its software, remained unchanged at about $300,000 per deal, said Ellett. The CEO said he expected the average deal size to move up in the near-term, but "not dramatically." As it was in the fourth quarter, the near-term strategy is to continue to win deals through management and technology consultants who get a commission of about 10% to 30% on each deal they win for Docent, Ellett said. Much of Docent's fourth-quarter success was a direct result of these partnerships with firms such as Accenture, formerly called Andersen Consulting, he said. Internationally, Docent saw a jump in sales to European companies and added between five and 10 new customers in that region, the CEO said. Sales to European companies should continue to accelerate, as most just began ramping up their online learning infrastructure, he said. Operating margins were "fine across the board," said Ellett. Margins are expected to be negative for several quarters as the company increases its sales and engineering units. Docent, which went public in October 2000, expects to break even by the second quarter of 2002. "This year the bulk of (infrastructure) growth will be in sales and engineering," Ellett said. For the fourth quarter, Docent increased it sales force to 53 representatives, up from last quarter's 42, he said. This time last year, Docent posted a net loss of $2.35 a share on revenue of $410,000. In the third quarter, it posted a pro forma net loss of 39 cents a share, on revenue of $2.9 million. -By Kaja Whitehouse, Dow Jones Newswires, 201-938-5393 kaja.whitehouse.dowjones.com (END) DOW JONES NEWS 01-26-01 02:47 PM