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Technology Stocks : Ariba Technologies (Nasdaq-ARBA) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Suzanne Newsome who wrote (1796)	3/15/2001 2:31:34 PM
From: Anthony Tsai	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2110

Why would the firm still maintain a buy rating? If what they say is true about Ariba missing earnings, they probably won't downgrade the stock until after Ariba reports the bad earnings. That's the way how Wall Street works. Most analysts don't downgrade the stock until after the news is out. That way, the firm has the opportunity to unload some stock before the downgrade. And after the downgrade, they can buy it back cheaper. It's kind of sad to the small investor, but that's what happens everyday. Anthony

To: Suzanne Newsome who wrote (1796)	3/17/2001 10:59:17 AM
From: Suzanne Newsome	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2110

Thursday March 8, 5:40 pm Eastern Time Ariba CFO says Q1 deals going down to the wire NEW YORK, March 8 (Reuters) - Ariba Inc.'s (NasdaqNM:ARBA - news) chief financial officer on Thursday said demand for the company's products remained strong but cautioned that a slowdown of sales in January could mean the electronic business software vendor has more deals than usual to finalize by the end of the first quarter. Speaking at a technology conference in New York, Robert Calderoni said that 60 percent to 65 percent of Ariba's business is typically done in the third month of every quarter. But citing tough economic pressures and a slowdown in information technology spending, Calderoni said that percentage would most likely be higher this quarter. ``In this quarter in particular it could be a few points higher than that because January was soft,'' Calderoni said, referring to slower-than-normal sales of its software during the first month of 2001. ``Despite the fact there remains strong demand ... the $64,000 question is how many of those deals will close this quarter?'' The question prompted one participant to express concern. ``Sixty to 65 percent,'' the man called out during a question and answer session being held at a conference hosted by analyst firm Merrill Lynch. ``That's a very high hockey stick isn't it?, even for a software company.'' But Calderoni downplayed the statement. ``That's not atypical,'' he said. ``With Oracle's announcement last week, it's too early in the quarter for us to say, but March will be a telling month.'' Last week, Oracle Corp.(NasdaqNM:ORCL - news) surprised Wall Street by saying it would miss analysts'expectations for its 2001 first quarter, citing a reduction in spending amid fears of a slowing U.S economy. Calderoni's comments come a day after the chief executive of rival Commerce One Inc. (NasdaqNM:CMRC - news), Mark Hoffman, said his company still had to finalize more than 50 percent of its software license deals for the first quarter. The shares of both Ariba and Commerce One closed at new 52-week lows on Nasdaq. Ariba closed down $1-3/4, or 11 percent, at $13-5/8 and far off its year-high of $183-5/16. Commerce One closed down $2-1/2, or nearly 16 percent, also at $13-5/8 and far from its year-high of $137-13/16. Hoffman said that while Commerce One's business remained strong, the software vendor was not immune to the economic pressure being felt by giants like Oracle. Tom Berquist, an analyst with brokerage firm Goldman Sachs, said he thought Ariba and Commerce One would both post gloomy first quarter numbers, but no more gloomy than any other software application vendor. ``I feel the same way about Commerce One and Ariba as I do about all the vendors in the application software space,'' he said. ``They're all back-end loaded and they have to get the purchase orders signed by the CFO by the end of the quarter, and that isn't going to be easy.''