Fatbrain.com gains on 4Q results

Fatbrain.com shares rallied up 1 7/8, or 12 percent, to 17 5/8 Thursday after it beat Street estimates in its fourth quarter.

In the quarter, Fatbrain.com (Nasdaq: FATB) posted a loss of $10 million, or 79 cents a share, on sales of $11.9 million.

First Call consensus expected it to lose 82 cents a share in the quarter.

The $11.9 million in sales marks a 122 percent jump from the year-ago quarter when it lost $3.4 million, or 37 cents a share, on sales of $5.3 million.

For the year, Fatbrain.com lost $30.3 million, or $2.61 a share, on sales of $35.3 million, a 79 percent improvement from fiscal 1998 when it lost $9.9 million, or $2.87 a share, on sales of $19.8 million.

"With our business-to-business solutions accounting for the lion's share of our revenues, we're expanding our focus on B2B to provide a comprehensive outsourcing solution," said CEO Dennis Capovilla in a prepared release. "We believe that our new information exchange solutions will allow us to address a greater market opportunity and to augment our successful B2B expertise with higher margin generating services."

Last quarter, Fatbrain.com lost $9.1 million, or 80 cents a share, on sales of $8.2 million.

Fatbrain.com shares moved up to a 52-week high of 42 1/4 in November after falling to a low of 11 5/8 in August.

Five of the six analysts tracking the stock maintain either a "buy" or "strong buy" recommendation.

First Call consensus expects it to lose $3.82 a share in fiscal 2000.