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Technology Stocks : Oracle Corporation (ORCL) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MeDroogies who wrote (17071)	6/3/2002 1:02:25 PM
From: JakeStraw	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 19080

Software Sector's Slump Persists Associated Press biz.yahoo.com Software Sector Doldrums Persist; Many Software Investors Bracing for Oracle Corp. News NEW YORK (AP) -- Software investors, many of whom are bracing for disappointing news from Oracle Corp. (NasdaqNM:ORCL) this week and other vendors next month, might as well take the summer off. Several brokerages are saying hostile selling conditions and constrained corporate budgets persist, and could result in two more disappointing earnings periods for the beleaguered industry. Software stocks will remain depressed as expectations of a rebound are postponed, some analysts say. On Monday, Lehman Brothers and UBS Warburg lowered their earnings and revenue estimates for several software companies, warning the tough business conditions will last for several more months. Lehman downgraded its ratings on six companies, including BEA Systems Inc. and Veritas Software Corp. Goldman Sachs and Salomon Smith Barney made similar negative comments on the software sector two weeks ago. Goldman analysts reduced their estimates for 26 companies, while Salomon reduced its estimates on nine others. Information technology buyers "still see no compelling reason to spend this quarter," said Ken Carey of UBS Warburg in a research note. That will translate into difficult earnings season in July and extremely cautious outlook for the rest of the year. Lehman Brothers analyst Neil Herman noted "significant employee reductions" are likely in the next few weeks at both SAP AG and Oracle, which reflects a "lack of indicators suggesting a pickup." He cautioned the seasonal slowdown in the September quarter may be weaker than usual, particularly in Europe. "Our belief is that for the industry, a flat September may be the best that we can hope for," Herman wrote. The first litmus test will come from Oracle, Redwood Shores, California, whose key fourth-quarter ended Friday. On Monday CIBC World Markets became the latest brokerage to predict that the database software bellwether likely missed already reduced expectations and will preannounce this week. In the final days of the quarter, Oracle salespeople were "scrambling to get any business possible by closing very small deals as well as giving very large discounts," CIBC's Melissa Eisenstat wrote. Although the company has tried to stop giving last-minute discounts, they were necessary this quarter to come "anywhere near" the revenue target of $2.6 billion, she added. Eisenstat said given the tough spending environment, her estimate of 17 percent sequential growth "could be a stretch." She is forecasting earnings of 11 cents a share for the May quarter, which is 1 cent below the current consensus.