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Strategies & Market Trends : Market Gems-Trading Strong Earnings Growth and Momentum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ColtonGang who wrote (5871)	3/5/2001 8:14:13 PM
From: ColtonGang	Respond to of 6445

Veritas Says First-Quarter Forecast Remains Intact PALO ALTO, Calif. (Reuters) - Senior executives at Veritas Software Corp. (NasdaqNM:VRTS - news) on Monday reiterated earlier guidance and said they remain comfortable with analysts' current estimates as the company's sales remain strong. Shares of the Mountain View, Calif.-based maker of data management software rebounded to $62.781 in extended trade on the Island system. The stock finished the regular session $3-13/16 lower at $59-13/16 as investors worried that Veritas might follow the lead of other technology companies and issue a profit warning during its mid-quarter business update. ``We're very confident in our ability to meet our expectations,'' Veritas Chief Executive Gary Bloom said, referring to the company's earlier forecast for first-quarter revenue growth of about 4 percent from the prior quarter. The company also is on track with its estimate for 2001 sales to grow between 45 percent to 50 percent, he said. Financial analysts, on average, expect Veritas to post first-quarter earnings of 20 cents per share on revenue of $383.4 million, according to First Call/Thomson Financial. ``This was definitely something we needed in light of what's going on in the storage market,'' Mark Fernandes, a Merrill Lynch analyst, told Reuters. Data storage companies such as Veritas and storage hardware and software giant EMC Corp. (NYSE:EMC - news) recently have been subject to analyst downgrades. While Veritas has been consistently bullish about its business, investors and analysts have grown increasingly skittish as loads of tech companies warn that their sales are being hurt by the slowing U.S. economy. The latest blow came on Thursday when Oracle Corp. (NasdaqNM:ORCL - news) -- the world's second-largest software seller -- said that its third-quarter results would lag forecasts after nervous executives failed to put final signatures on some deals. Veritas executives said they are closely watching economic indicators but said they do not see and do not anticipate a similar slowdown in their business. ``January was a very good month for us. February continues that trend ... It feels like a typical Q1 for the company,'' Veritas Chief Financial Officer Ken Lonchar said. That comment struck a chord with Fernandes, who said Veritas historically does more than 60 percent of its license revenue in the first two months of the quarter, with February being its strongest month. While the company does not expect a late-quarter revenue surprise, Bloom said the company was being ``prudent'' by slightly lowering its internal forecast for closure rates.