STOCKS TO WATCH: ASM Lithography, Cisco and Computer Associates
Expect the following technology stocks to be among Wednesday's most actively traded issues: ASM Lithography, Cisco and Computer Associates.
The chip-equipment maker should be worth watching Wednesday after Lehman Brothers cut its earnings estimates for the rest of the year, citing a weak euro as a primary reason for sluggish earnings.
Its shares closed off 1 9/16 to 42 9/16 Monday.
Lehman bumped its fiscal 2001 estimates based on fundamental strength in ASM’s core business in the production of advanced lithography projection systems.
ASM shares peaked at 50 3/16 in March.
Cisco should be on the move Wednesday after it and IBM (NYSE: IBM) said they would join forces to offer European businesses a complete system for businesses to management their customer relationships.
It is the first venture announced since September, when the two companies said they would team up on technology, networking and strategic services projects.
Cisco said it would use IBM's servers and Web management software along with Cisco's software networking products to design, manage and implement a company's customer relationship management system. IBM's Global Services will work with clients.
As part of the drive, the two companies said they would create a joint European facility in Weybridge, United Kingdom, in August to demonstrate the products and systems, which include IBM's voice technology that enable users to surf the Internet and conduct commerce using a telephone instead of a screen.
The package also uses Cisco's software to better send voice along the Internet at a much lower cost than over traditional circuit-based telephone lines.
IBM shares closed off 1/16 to 109 1/2 Monday while Cisco picked up 1 1/16 to 64 5/8.
Computer Associates shares should slide a bit Wednesday after it warned that its first-quarter sales and earnings would fall short of Wall Street expectations because of weak European sales and contract delays.
The business software firm said it expects April-June contract revenue to total between $1.25 billion and $1.3 billion, an increase from the $1.22 billion it posted in the same period a year ago.
Still, the results are expected to be “less than current Wall Street estimates,” Computer Associates said in a prepared statement.
“Revenue wasn’t as strong as we hoped,” said Sanjay Kumar, the company’s president and COO. “We intend to work aggressively to address the performance issues in our European business.”
Its shares closed off 3/16 to 51 Monday.
Reuters contributed to this report.>