STOCKS TO WATCH: CDNow, GO.com, Newbridge Networks and Novell

It just keeps getting worse for CDNow.

On Tuesday, the online music retailer missed analysts' estimates for the second quarter in row, posting a loss of $28.2 million, or 92 cents a share, on sales of $43.6 million.

A survey of analysts by First Call Corp. predicted it would lose 88 cents a share in the quarter.

Ahead of the earnings report, CDNow (Nasdaq: CDNW) shares closed off 7/16 to 4 3/16.

In the year-ago quarter, the online music retailer lost $19.1 million, or 96 cents a share, on sales of $21.9 million.

Including a variety of charges, it lost $37.8 million, or $1.23 a share, in the quarter.

Company officials announced a new operating plan designed to trim operating expenses by more than $12 million a quarter, hoping to make itself more attractive for a potential suitor.

However, it said the reduction in spending to acquire new customers will result in second- and third-quarter sales below this quarter's mark.

In the quarter, advertising sales fell to $3 million from $3.4 million in the fourth quarter.

GO.com might get a bump Wednesday after it posted a smaller-than-expected loss in its second quarter, dropping $72.6 million, or 47 cents a share, on sales of $97.6 million.

First Call Corp. consensus expected it to lose 54 cents a share in the quarter.

Ahead of the earnings report, GO.com (NYSE: GO) shares added 1/4 to 13 1/2.

Including amortization charges, GO.com, part of Walt Disney Co.'s (NYSE: DIS) media empire, lost $292.2 million, or $1.88 a share, in the quarter.

The $97.6 million in sales represents a 38 percent improvement from the year-ago quarter when it posted a loss of 21 cents a share on sales of $70.8 million.

In the quarter, GO.com's average daily page views improved 65 percent to 78 million from 47 million in the year-ago quarter. Sequentially, page views jumped 9 percent from 72 million in the first quarter.

Its registered-user base rose 78 percent from the same period last year to a total of 21.5 million.

The networking-equipment maker being bought by Alcatel SA said it expects fourth- quarter net income of 20 cents to 25 a share, more than the average estimate of 14 cents by analysts polled by First Call. During after-hours trading, Newbridge was up 3 15/16 to 39 15/16.

Novell will slide Wednesday after announcing that its second-quarter sales and earnings will fall dramatically shy of analysts' estimates.

The network software vendor said it sees earnings of 8 cents a share for the fiscal second quarter, on sales of slightly more than $300 million.

That figure includes a $35 million royalty payment from Caldera Systems (Nasdaq: CALD) related to the recent settlement of Caldera's lawsuit against Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT).

First Call's survey of 10 analysts predicted Novell earnings of 16 cents per share for the quarter that just ended on Sunday.

The company blamed "management and organizational issues in sales" for hurting revenue. Both channel sales and licenses for large accounts saw declines.

Customers delayed purchases because of increased interest in Linux and Windows 2000's introduction, Novell said.

Its shares fell 1 3/8 to 17 9/16 Tuesday.