Informix hammered on second quarter profit warning

Shares of Informix (Nasdaq: IFMX) were hammered Monday after the company said its second quarter sales and earnings would fall well short of projections.

In early trading, Informix was down 37 percent, or 2 3/4 to 4 11/16.

Informix, which issued the warning before the open of an abbreviated holiday trading session, said it would report a second quarter profit of a penny a share to 3 cents a share on sales ranging between $240 million to $250 million. First Call Corp.'s consensus poll of six analysts predicted a profit of 12 cents a share.

In the same quarter last year, Informix reported pro forma net income of 6 cents a share on revenue of $250.6 million, excluding non-recurring charges.

The company said that second quarter revenue was essentially flat in all geographic areas, including Europe, which has been hurt by the strength of the dollar.

Informix, which will report full results on April 19, added that the acquisition of Ardent Software, which was completed on March 1, will not be accretive to earnings in

Prior to the earnings warning, First Call was predicting 2000 profits of 60 cents a share for Informix.