STOCKS TO WATCH: Agency.com, CMGI, Microsoft, Oracle and Red Hat
Expect the following technology stocks to be among Friday’s most actively traded issues: Agency.com, CMGI, Microsoft, Oracle and Red Hat.
The Internet consultant could be in for a rough day after warning after the bell that it will miss analysts’ estimates in its fourth quarter and lay off 190 employees.
Its shares closed unchanged at $3.88 ahead of the warning.
Company officials said it now expects to earnings of between 4 cents to 7 cents a share in the quarter, meaning it will likely miss the current First Call Corp. consensus estimate of 7 cents a share.
It will also take a restructuring charge of between $11 million to $14 million in the quarter.
It expects sales for the fourth quarter to total $56 million to $58 million, compared with $31.3 million in the year earlier period.
CMGI managed to post a smaller-than-expected loss in its first quarter Thursday and said it has more than $800 million in cash to keep it afloat for the next 30 months.
In the quarter, it lost $74 million, or 25 cents a share, excluding charges, on sales of $366.1 million.
Including a variety of charges, the Internet holding company posted a loss of $636.6 million, or $2.07 a share in the quarter.
First Call Corp. consensus pegged CMGI for a loss of $2.13 a share in the quarter.
CMGI (Nasdaq: CMGI) shares fell 56 cents to a 52-week low of $9.06 ahead of the earnings report.
The $366.1 million in sales represents a 184 percent improvement from the year-ago quarter when it lost $122 million, or 54 cents a share, on sales of $129.1 million but off 3 percent sequentially.
Even mighty Microsoft couldn’t escape the sour technology market this quarter.
For the first time in its history, the software giant warned that its second-quarter sales would fall short of its earlier forecast by 5 to 6 percent due to slowing spending on technology by consumers and businesses.
It now expects to earn between 46 cents to 47 cents a share in the quarter, below the Street view of 49 cents a share.
Sales are expected to come in between $6.4 billion to $6.5 billion. It also cut its sales forecast for the full fiscal year to between $25.2 billion to $25.4 billion, about 5 percent lower than its previous estimate.
It’s expecting earnings of $1.80 to $1.82 a share for the full fiscal year, below the average Wall Street forecast of $1.91 per share as monitored by First Call.
Its shares fell $2.63 to $52.88 in after-hours trading after closing off $1.75 ahead of the warning.
Oracle will be active after topping the Street estimate in its second quarter, thanks to strong sales of its database and Internet application software.
In the quarter, it pocketed $623 million, or 11 cents a share, for its second quarter, up from $384 million, or 6 cents a share, a year ago.
Analysts were expecting a profit of 10 cents a share.
Total sales rose to $2.7 billion from $2.3 billion.
Oracle's sales of business management, or application software -- closely watched by Wall Street -- rose 66 percent to $279 million, coming in ahead of expectations. Analysts had expected sales to grow between 48 percent and 58 percent.
The stock fell 88 cents to $27.50 ahead of the earnings report but moved up to $28.50 in after-hours trading.
Red Hat will be on the move after it beat the Street in its third-quarter, losing $899,532, or a penny a share, on sales of $22.4 million.
In the year-ago quarter, it dropped $5.4 million, or 4 cents a share, on sales of $10.5 million.
Analysts were expecting a loss of 2 cents a share.
The stock closed off 63 cents to $8.69 ahead of the report.
The company said it was on track to achieving profitability, which analysts had anticipated by the second quarter of fiscal 2002, ending in August next year.