X

STOCKS TO WATCH: AOL, EITI, Viant and Wind River

3 min read

Expect the following technology stocks to be among Friday's most actively traded issues: AOL, Emergent Information Technologies, Viant and Wind River Systems.

  • America Online (NYSE: AOL)

    AOL should be active after announcing late Thursday that it will acquire Quack.com, a leading voice portal company. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

    Its shares closed off 50 cents to $55.63 ahead of the announcement.

    Quack.com's portal uses simple spoken commands over a telephone to provide consumers with convenient access to online information on subjects like stocks, traffic, weather, movies, and sports.

    Company official said Quack.com will be managed by AOL's Interactive Properties Group.

    "By acquiring one of the leaders in the voice portal space, we're taking another important step in advancing our AOL Anywhere strategy," said President Ted Leonsis in a prepared release. "Quack.com's technology will help extend the AOL experience beyond the PC, and give our members the ability to turn any wireless or home or office phone into a robust AOL access device."

  • Emergent Information Technologies (Nasdaq: EITI)

    EITI shares will be active after the software developer announced late Thursday that CEO Michael Piriano has resigned to pursue other interests.

    Its shares closed up 1/16 to 2 7/16 ahead of the announcement.

    Chairman Steven Myers will serve as interim president and CEO, with Ajay Patel continuing as executive vice president and chief operating officer.

    "Michael helped us grow Emergent to a more than $100 million a year company," Myers said in a prepared release. "We wish him all the best in his new ventures."

    In its latest quarter, EITI posted a profit of $442,000, or 3 cents a share, on sales of $32.4 million.

    There is no First Call Corp. consensus estimate for it this quarter.

  • Viant (Nasdaq: VIAN)

    Viant shares figure to tank Friday after it warned that it will take a loss in its third quarter on disappointing sales.

    Its shares closed off 5/8 to 13 7/8 ahead of the profit warning. The stock fell to 10 3/8 in after-hours trading.

    First Call Corp. consensus was expecting Viant to return a profit of 8 cents a share in the quarter.

    Company officials said it expects third-quarter sales to fall between 12 percent to 15 percent from the $38.5 million it recorded in the second quarter.

    "We are disappointed with our expected financial performance for the third quarter, which reflects the combination of a number of factors," said CEO Bob Gett in a prepared release. "The expected revenue shortfall is primarily attributable to the changing market environment from the dot-com driven demand of past quarters to a strong, but more deliberate decision-making process, especially for Global 2000 companies."

    Gett also said the company didn't ramp up its sales and marketing forces fast enough to keep pace with the shifting market environment.

    Making matters worse, its dependency on new, cash-strapped Internet firms came back to haunt it.

    "Many of our existing dot-com clients were unable to gain the additional funding they had expected to convert to follow-on projects that we were forecasting," Gett said in the release.

  • Wind River Systems (Nasdaq: WIND)

    Wind River Systems should be worth watching after it beat the Street in its second quarter, raking in $7.7 million, or 10 cents a share, on sales of $101.3 million.

    Analysts were expecting the maker of embedded software to earn 7 cents a share in the quarter.

    Its shares closed up 1 to 40 3/4 ahead of the earnings report before moving up to 42 in after-hours trading.

    Wind River also said Richard Kraber would retire from his CFO post in fiscal 2002. He will stay until a replacement is found and trained, the company said.