A confusing day for AFFX, exciting if you own a lot of it.
Opened about 32, dropped below 28, then climbed back up with the market to finish a little off at 31.47. Earnings announced at the close, and here we go again: quickly drops almost to 28, then climbs back to 32, dipping at the close to 31.57.
I looked at the last 10 minutes of time-and-sales, FWIW here's what I found:
Some small trades with 10 mins. to go @32, with five minutes to go a flurry of trades in ten seconds or so, for about 7000 shares @ 32, then with about one minute to go, 8 or 10 trades in less then ten seconds @ 31.47, all 100 share lots. 31.47 is the final price, with 31.37 the final price in regular hours.
A trading day that smacked of day traders. There was confusion about the meaning of the earnings among journalists, as well as traders. Briefing.com thinks the future guidance makes for a weak report (their final report at 18:17 should have seen the rise back to 32, but they might have missed it.) Reuters seems quite positive about the report.
A few comments from a large day-trading chatroom [posted at the end] seem to be confused on the numbers also. It's possible someone was 'gaming' the stock (someone on, or Off Wall Street?), or it could be just natural human blundering in the dark.
Doc
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[Briefing.com]
16:13 ET AFFX Affymetrix beats estimates, guides lower (30.20 -2.10) -- Update --
Reports Q4 pro forma EPS of $0.01, $0.07 better than the Multex consensus; revs were $65.1 mln, ahead of consensus of $59.75 mln. The co expects to see an FY02 profit of $3-$5 mln ($0.05-$0.09 based on current share count) on product revs of $245 mln, vs consensus FY02 EPS
est of $0.11.
16:46 ET After Hours Movers
Prices vs 4 pm ET close... Several biotech names moving in the late session. CHIR +0.49 higher on revenues that topped estimates; GILD +0.92 bidding up after announcing a 2-for-1 stock split, AFFX -0.95 selling off after warning on earnings for FY02;
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tools.thestreet.com{F8700F11-1BCA-43BD-AB0B-5081CC1D072D}&symb=affx&sid=17025&blnReuters=True&orig=1&timer=
UPDATE 3-Affymetrix 4th-quarter loss narrows as sales rise
- Reuters U.S. Markets News
(adds analyst comments, company comments, updates stock price)
By Deena Beasley
LOS ANGELES, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Affymetrix Inc. (AFFX) said on Wednesday its fourth-quarter loss narrowed, fueled by lower costs and higher sales of its gene analysis technology, which it projected will grow 25 percent this year.
The Santa Clara, California-based company said its net loss narrowed to $8.4 million, or 15 cents a share, from a loss of $42 million, or 75 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter.
Affymetrix is the leading maker of gene chips, microscopic slides that contain DNA configurations, used by drug companies and scientists to analyze genetic variations and markers of disease.
Product sales rose 7.6 percent to $55.2 million in the quarter from $51.3 million a year earlier.
Wall Street analysts on average expected the company to post a loss of 5 cents a share, with estimates ranging from a loss of 1 cent to a loss of 7 cents, according to research firm Thomson Financial/First Call.
Excluding amortization of acquired intangible assets, deferred stock compensation and a $4.5 million legal settlement charge, the company posted a profit of one cent a share.
"They had a great quarter ... the upside is that more systems were installed, that should drive future chip sales," said Scott Greenstone, an analyst at Thomas Weisel Partners.
Greenstone said he expected product sales of just $49 million for the fourth quarter.
Affymetrix said it shipped over four GeneChip systems per week on average in the quarter, bringing the total number of installed systems to nearly 600 and it expects to ship 3-4 a week this year.
The company's shares, which fell 93 cents to close at $31.37 on Nasdaq, have lost about 17 percent of their value this month. The slump was fueled by a report this week from buy-side consulting firm Off Wall Street recommending investors to bet that the company's stock will decline.
The stock was trading at $32 after-hours on Instinet.
In 2002, Affymetrix said it expects to report a slight loss in the first quarter and a full-year pro forma profit of $3 million to $5 million, which excludes acquisition charges. The First Call estimate for 2002 profits is 11 cents a share.
The company, which has a new chip that uses the draft sequence of the entire human genome, projected 2002 product revenue growth of about 25 percent, or total product revenue near $245 million. It said first quarter product revenue will be about $56 million.
In the fourth quarter, overall revenue rose nearly 10 percent to $65.1 million, including $5.6 million in at-cost sales to a subsidiary, from $59.4 million in the year-ago quarter. Total 2002 revenue was projected at $285 million, with $66 million of that expected to come in the first quarter.
Fourth-quarter costs and expenses fell to $73.5 million from $103.4 million a year earlier, due primarily to merger and litigation costs in 2000.
For 2002, Affymetrix projected flat research and development costs of $70 million and said selling and administrative costs will rise to around $105 million from $95 million as it gears up overseas sales efforts.
President Sue Siegel said during a conference call that 20 percent of the company's business last year was in Europe and that share is expected to increase this year.
In addition, Affymetrix said it is working to develop products that will be used further downstream in the drug development process -- tools for clinical drug research and clinical trial settings.
REUTERS
Rtr 18:59 01-30-02
________________[From a day-trading chat room]_________
<x> 4:08pm 01/30/02 [AFFX] AFFYMETRIX Q4 LOSS 15 CENTS VS 75 CENTS YR AGO QTR
<y> AFFX loss $.08 vs loss $.05
<z> AFFX seems like learned the new accounting tricks |
