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Politics : High Tolerance Plasticity -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: chowder who wrote (15207)	7/17/2002 7:14:05 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 23153

Software Maker Siebel Cuts 1,100 Jobs By BRIAN BERGSTEIN AP Business Writer Wednesday July 17, 7:06 pm Eastern Time Software Maker Cutting 1,100 Jobs; Profits Plunge 61 Percent SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Declaring that no end to the technology slump is in sight, business software maker Siebel Systems Inc. said Wednesday it will slash more than 1,100 jobs and reported quarterly earnings that fell well short of analysts' expectations. The cuts, which amount to 16 percent of Siebel's 7,160-person work force, are necessary because corporate technology spending only worsened in the second quarter and figures to stay weak the rest of the year, said Thomas Siebel, chairman and chief executive. The company lowered its outlook for the current quarter and beyond. "It's difficult to express how weak it is, in Europe, in Asia, in the United States," Siebel said in a conference call with analysts. "There's just not a lot of business being done in the information-technology market." In the quarter that ended June 30, Siebel Systems earned $29.8 million, or 6 cents per share. That marked a 61 percent drop in profit from the comparable period last year, when the company earned $76.6 million, 15 cents per share. Revenue fell 28 percent, to $405.6 million from $560.2 million a year ago. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial/First Call had expected Siebel, based in San Mateo, Calif., to earn 9 cents per share on revenue of $437 million. Some analysts had also predicted the layoffs, saying Siebel needed to keep expenses in line with flagging sales. In trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market before the earnings report Wednesday, Siebel stock rose 36 cents, more than 3 percent, to $11.74. The stock plunged to $10.46 in extended trading after the report was released. Siebel is one of the leading makers of customer relationship management software, which automates several business functions and helps keep track of customer accounts. The company will take about $225 million in charges to pay severance to laid-off employees and to close facilities, including some in Silicon Valley. The goal of the cuts is to reduce redundant operations and bring Siebel Systems' staffing to its mid-2000 level of about 6,000 people. Siebel said the company had carried 1,500 more employees than it needed for the past year in hopes that a turnaround in tech spending would have taken hold by now. Instead, the high-tech swoon has deepened and is now compounded, Siebel said, by the overall negative business climate -- with fears of terrorism, a decline in worldwide stock markets and recent questions about corporate accounting fraud. Executives now predict the company will earn 5 to 8 cents per share in the current third quarter, excluding restructuring costs, on revenue of $355 million to $400 million. Analysts had been estimating 9 cents per share and revenue of $432 million in the third quarter, according to First Call. The fourth-quarter outlook appears much the same, executives said. For the first half of 2002, Siebel showed net income of $94.4 million, 18 cents per share, on $883.4 million in revenue. Each figure dropped from the comparable period in 2001, when Siebel earned $153.5 million, 29 cents per share, on $1.16 billion in revenue.

To: chowder who wrote (15207)	7/17/2002 11:28:28 PM
From: jim_p	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 23153

If you don't like the futures, wait an hour and come back. It's all over the board tonight. Now back to even?? Jim

To: chowder who wrote (15207)	7/18/2002 11:23:03 AM
From: Warpfactor	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 23153

Dabum, I've read some discussion on "Max Pain" theory, although I do not know what "Max Pain" refers to. As I understand, every month options expire on a given Friday. If you look at the open activity for QQQ and SPDR, and a few other key indices, you will find a cluster of activity around a certain strike price. According to what I've read, the markets will tend to gravitate to that strike price by expiration Friday, engineered there either consciously or unconsciously by the powers-that-be. Once in awhile, like last month, the QQQ had traded so far below the level of highest activity, that the big boys just had to take their lumps and cut bait. But most of the time, this theory holds true. Is that a proper assessment of options week activity? Warp