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Strategies & Market Trends : The Thread Formerly Known as No Rest For The Wicked -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Junkyardawg who wrote (25126)	4/8/1999 7:11:00 AM
From: Tim Luke	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 90042

Thursday, April 08, 1999 THE DAY AHEAD: Stocks to Watch By Larry BarrettTDASW April 8, 1999 5:11am ZDII Expect the following technology stocks to be among Thursday's most actively traded issues: Advanced Micro Devices, Check Point, Dell, Fore, HNC Software, Lernout & Hauspie, Manugistics Group and Wind River, Yahoo!. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) Yes, yes, it's true. AMD has issued yet another profit warning. On Wednesday, AMD said it shipped 4.3 million K6-2 processors in the first quarter, far fewer than planned. In addition, AMD continued to feel the pain of price wars, which forced the company to sell chips at an average of just $78 each. That combination of disappointing production and falling prices resulted in first quarter revenue of about $630 million, down 20 percent sequentially. The company declined to provide a range for earnings or losses per share, but a spokesman noted that companies normally don't preannounce results unless estimates need to be changed. First Call's survey of 21 analysts had predicted a first quarter loss of 56 cents a share. Last month, the company warned that production problems meant it would ship no more than 5 million units, down from its previous target of 5.5 million. AMD has since worked through its manufacturing obstacles -- March saw more chips shipped than in January and February combined, said the company, which still expects to meet its goal of shipping 20 million to 25 million chips this year. AMD shares closed up 1/2 to 16 1/2 Wednesday. Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: CHKP) The network management software company said it expects "strong results" and will meet frist quarter expectations. First Call Corp. consensus estimate of 15 analysts is looking for 44 cents a share for the quarter, up from 41 cents last year. Results are scheduled to be released the week of April 19. Shares slipped 3 3/8 to 26 3/4 on Wednesday. Dell Computer Corp. (Nasdaq: DELL) The PC and server maker is meeting with analysts in New York City later today. Dell is expected to report strong results for its April quarter. First Call is expecting 16 cents a share in earnings for the quarter, up from 11 cents in the year-ago quarter. Results are due the week of May 19. Dell dipped 3/8 to 46 7/16. Fore Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: FORE) The last independent networking equipment maker rose on Wednesday on hopes that it too will be snatched up like the others. Also, there is optimism that Fore may actually meet expectations for its fourth quarter. In February, the company warned that sales for the quarter were trailing expectations, and have yet to issue a warning that it will miss earnings for the quarter. Shares added 1 13/16 to 22 15/16 on Wednesday. HNC Software Inc. (Nasdaq: HNCS) The software developer also warned that it would miss analysts' estimates in its first quarter. On Wednesday, the San Diego-based provider of customer analyzation software said it earned between 15 and 17 cents per share in the first quarter ended last week. First Call's survey of eight analysts predicted a profit of 22 cents per share. HNC saw first quarter revenue of $48 million to $50 million, about 10 percent lower than company expectations. Sales of software for insurance companies was especially weak, HNC said. The stock closed off 1 27/32 to 27 7/32 Wednesday. Learnout & Hauspie Speech Products NV (Nasdaq: LHSP) The speech recognition software company met expectations for its fourth quarter, earning 14 cents a share, up a cent from the year-earlier period. Revenue rose to $76.7 million from $33.8 million. On a pro forma basis, L&H earned 23 cents from 20 cents a share. Lehman Brothers cut the company to "neutral" from "buy." Shares dropped 1/8 to 43 7/16. Manugistics Group Inc. (Nasdaq: MANU) Here's a stock that just keeps falling. Manugistics fell short of analysts' estimates in its fourth quarter Wednesday, losing $19.3 million, or 72 cents a share, on sales of $40.5 million. The news has to be especially disconcerting to investors who pushed the stock up 11/16, or 11 percent, to 6 3/4 ahead of the earnings report. First Call consensus expected the Rockville, Md. Company to lose 68 cents a share in the quarter. In the year-ago quarter, Manugistics earned $6.7 million, or 25 cents a share. The stock surged to a 52-week high of 66 3/8 last April before beginning its woeful decline. All 12 analysts following the stock maintain a "hold" recommendation. Wind River Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: WIND) The software company warned that it will miss estimates for its April quarter, citing a delay in shipments. First Call was expecting 14 cents a share. Wind River dropped 2 to 11 7/8. Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO) Hard to find anything to complain about in Yahoo!'s first quarter results. It earned $25 million, or 11 cents a share, on sales of $86 million, well above the First Call estimate of 8 cents a share. The stock surged up more than $6 a share in after-market trading. Yahoo!'s traffic surged to more than 235 million page views per day in March. What's not to like? -Eric C. Fleming contributed to this report. Source: ZDII