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

To: GST who wrote (43514)	3/2/1999 5:14:00 PM
From: gjhinc	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

>> if I am an AMZN bull you must both blind squirrel and nut ...that I am... but, for other reasons. I think I know your general AMZN position. Just mess/mis/mus-worded my response.

To: GST who wrote (43514)	3/2/1999 9:04:00 PM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Respond to of 164684

Investors sell-off 3Com stock on earnings concerns By Daniel Bases NEW YORK, March 2 (Reuters) - Investors who sold shares on Tuesday of computer networking company 3Com Corp.<COMS.O> -- maker of the popular handheld Palm Pilot computer -- had their fears of a weak third quarter confirmed after the stock market closed. The company pre-announced its results after the close of trading, saying revenues would be between $1.41 billion and $1.415 billion with earnings per share of $0.23 for the period ended Feb. 28. 3Com's pre-announced results are far below the First Call consensus estimate of $0.36 a share. Fears of a weak quarter caused heavy selling in the stock, knocking it down $3.69 at $27 on the Nasdaq stock market. The company also said its seasonally weak third quarter was exacerbated by an unexpected slowdown in the U.S. and Latin American enterprise markets, plus weakness in its traditional product distribution channels and lower than expected original equipment manufacturing sales to the personal computer market, contributed to the lower than expected growth. That last area of weakness corresponds with recent news that Compaq Computer Corp. <CPQ.N>, the world's No. 1 personal computer maker, saw weak sales in the first six weeks of 1999. Other leading PC makers, including Dell Computer Corp. <DELL.O> and Hewlett-Packard Co. <HWP.N> have reported softer than expected revenue growth so far this year. In addition, PC distributors have have been hurt by a backlog of unsold inventory left over from the fourth quarter of 1998. "The stock is down on fears that the quarter might be worse than originally thought," said Michael Cristinziano, networking analyst at Gerard Klauer Mattison, before 3Com made its announcement. Merrill Lynch networking analyst, Joseph Bellace cut third quarter and fiscal year 1999 earnings estimates on 3Com before the market closed. "The stock was under pressure all day and I think people were nervous about product pricing pressures and feared the company was going to pre-announce bad earnings," said one trader at a major brokerage who requested anonymity. In the third quarter, the company cut prices on its network interface cards, or NICs, in anticipation that Intel Corp. <INTC.O> would also cut theirs. However, Intel has not cut NIC prices. In a separate statement, 3Com said Doug Spreng, senior vice president of its client access business unit, which handles the NIC, PC card and modem business, will leave the company on June 1. Effective immediately, the company said Jef Graham, currently the vice president and general manager of the mobile communications division, will take over these businesses. 3Com is expected to report its official third quarter earnings on or about March 23. While Merrill Lynch could not immediately confirm the actual size of the reductions, a research note obtained by Reuters showed Bellace reduced his EPS estimate for the third quarter, which ended Feb. 28, to a range between $0.28 and $0.32 from his previous estimate of $0.36. The current First Call third quarter consensus estimate is for the company to earn $0.36 a share. Bellace, who maintains an accumulate rating on the stocks, said in the note that he also reduced the fiscal year 1999 earnings estimates to a range between $1.30 and $1.40 from $1.35 and $1.40. The fiscal 1999 First Call estimate is $1.38. The note also said Bellace cut revenue estimates for the third quarter to $1.48 billion from $1.54 billion.