Pumatech falls on downgrades, outlook

Pumatech shares fell $3.75, or 31 percent, to a 52-week low of $8.31 Tuesday after analysts downgraded the software developer following its first-quarter earnings report.

In the quarter, Pumatech (Nasdaq: PUMA) lost $3.3 million, or 8 cents a share, on sales of $9.9 million.

First Call Corp. consensus expected the software developer to lose 9 cents a share in the quarter.

On Tuesday, Wedbush Morgan analyst Scott Sutherland cut the stock from a "strong buy" rating to a "buy," mainly on revenue concerns.

"Revenues were in line with expectations, however they were soft for the company's MAP licensing giving us some concern as it is one of the company's primary revenue drivers."

Sutherland also cut his 12-month price target to $17 a share.

Samuel May, an analyst at USB Piper Jaffray, also cut the stock from a "strong buy" recommendation to a "buy" and lowered his 12-month price target to $35 a share from $60 a share.

He also cut his revenue and per share estimate for fiscal 2001 to $47.4 million from $48.3 million and a 31-cent loss from a 28-cent loss.

Robertson Stephens' Marianne Wolk lowered her fiscal year estimate from a loss of 32 cents a share to a loss of 36 cents a share.

The $9.9 million in sales marks a 55 percent improvement from the year-ago quarter when it lost $72,000 on sales of $6.4 million.

"Pumatech achieved a number of milestones during the first quarter of our 2001 fiscal year," said CEO Brad Rowe in a prepared release. "Two key revenue segments, MAP and enterprise, continued to gain traction in the marketplace, while the beta of our Intellisync.com(SM) service bureau was extremely well received."

Last quarter, Pumatech lost $3.6 million, or 8 cents a share, on sales of $9 million.

The stock moved as high as $102.44 in March before falling to a new low Tuesday.

All nine analysts following the stock maintain either a "buy" or "strong buy" recommendation.

Analysts are expecting a loss of 30 cents a share in the fiscal year.