Eloquent to miss 3Q revenue forecasts

A shift to new products will drive third quarter results below analyst expectations, Eloquent (Nasdaq: ELOQ) said Tuesday.

After market close, the provider of software and services for displaying business multimedia on the Web said it expects to report third quarter revenue between $3.3 million and $3.8 million, lower than analysts expected. First Call's survey of three analysts predicted a loss of 25 cents per share for Eloquent's quarter ending Sept. 30.

"The revenue shortfall comes primarily from an extended sales cycle in our software business as we transition to our next generation Eloquent Communications Server," said Abe Kleinfeld, president and CEO. "Services revenue continues to be strong, and we expect software revenue growth to resume in our fourth quarter as sales of the new ECS 6.0 begin to build."

Eloquent is scheduled to report final results for the third quarter on Oct. 25. It will be the company's second full quarter as a publicly-traded company.

Shares of Eloquent closed Tuesday's regular trading unchanged at 4. The stock has slid nearly 90 percent since reaching a closing high of 39.50 in early March, shortly after going public.>