Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bill Harmond who wrote (122427)	4/2/2001 1:48:49 PM
From: H James Morris	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 164684

Bill, its brutal everywhere. Seattle now has over 1,000,000 ' of unleased office space. >DALLAS, April 2 (Reuters) - i2 Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:ITWO), which makes software for business-to-business commerce, said on Monday it may cut about 10 percent of its 6,100-employee work force and lowered its first-quarter earnings estimate, citing customers that are delaying purchases because of economic uncertainty. The company, which makes software that lets businesses share their inventory and purchasing data with suppliers over the Web, said it expects first-quarter earnings, excluding special items, of 2 cents per diluted share, down from 4 cents a year earlier. The estimate is based on anticipated revenues of $355 million, up from $186 million a year ago. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial/First Call were expecting i2 to report 5 cents per share in the first quarter. On the news, shares of Dallas-based i2 gained $1-1/2, or nearly 12 percent, to $16 in heaving morning trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange. The stock's 52-week range is $12-9/16 to $99-7/16. "Actually, it's better than I expected. I think that's why the stock has reacted positively, too," said Tom Berquist, an analyst with brokerage firm Goldman Sachs. "However, the point that came across is that, even though it was close, i2 still believes the economy is struggling, which leads me to believe that these problems will be ongoing." Brent Thill, an analyst with Credit Suisse First Boston, agreed that the warning wasn't as bad as Wall Street had expected but questioned whether i2 was out of the water just yet. "The question is how much will it have to dip into the backlog to continue to make its numbers?" Thill said. Thill said i2's biggest challenge going forward was to reduce its dependency on big deals, and transition its sales teams to closing smaller deals more consistently throughout the quarter. "i2 is a home run hitter, but you need to have the consistent ability to get base hits, too," Thill said. "The worry is that i2 will end up like Nortel -- having to warn not once, but twice." "Our previous guidance for 2001 was based on the extremely high demand we saw last year," Chief Financial Officer Bill Beecher said in a statement. "Given the current economic environment and the associated decrease in revenue visibility, the company is reassessing its guidance for 2001 and is planning to take measures to reduce its cost structure by 5 to 10 percent." The cost-cutting measures may involve reductions of about 10 percent of i2's employees. As a result, the company expects to take a restructuring charge in the second quarter. i2's warning follows a series of earnings disappointments from some of the biggest software companies, led by Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ:ORCL)