STOCKS TO WATCH: Citrix, Microsoft and Sun Microsystems
Expect the following technology stocks to be among Monday's most actively traded issues: Citrix Systems, Microsoft and Sun Microsystems.
Keep an eye on the software maker Monday after it watched its shares fall 5 7/8 to 66 1/4 Friday.
Investors were turned off by fears new sales methods may have hurt quarterly results.
However, company officials say new direct sales force focused on big clients accounted for just 2 percent of total turnover in last year's fourth quarter.
Resellers and computer systems integrators remain the main avenues for selling Citrix software, he said. Shares of Citrix, which had been as high as 122 5/16 in March.
"The fear is that the Citrix shift to a more direct sales mix would subject it to more back-loaded sales each quarter. That makes no sense," Prudential Securities analyst Peter Ausnit told Reuters.
Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. analyst Sanjiv Hingorani said he had no doubts Citrix had made its sales and profits numbers for the quarter ended on Friday.
"I believe the quarter will be in line with analysts expectations," Hingorani said.
The software company's executives, including the chief executive, will hand over more than $263 million in stock awarded under a company compensation plan to settle shareholder lawsuits, company officials said after Friday's bell. The stock rose 2 1/16 to 59 3/16 at Friday's close.
Expect Microsoft shares to slide Monday after mediation talks in its landmark antitrust case collapsed, and the stock will remain under pressure ahead of a ruling widely expected to find the software giant violated antitrust laws, analysts said.
The judge mediating the Microsoft case announced on Saturday that his settlement efforts had ended in failure. The failure means that District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, who is hearing the case in Washington, D.C., will now issue his conclusions of law in the case.
Jackson found last year that Microsoft abused monopoly power over its Windows operating system, damaging consumers, competitors and other firms.
He is widely expected to find that Microsoft violated the nation's antitrust laws. After that, he will decide what remedies should be applied in the case.
Its shares closed up 2 7/8 to 106 1/4 Friday.
Sun could see extra action Monday after an Israeli startup denied a newspaper report on Sunday that it was in talks to be bought by Sun for $250 million to $300 million.
The Globes financial daily said Haifa-based StoreAge Networking Systems was negotiating to be sold to Sun. The paper did not publish any further details.
"We have had many potential customers who have seen this product express interest in the product and our company but we are not negotiating with anyone at this stage," Robi Hartman, chairman of StoraAge and chief executive of Intelligent Information Systems, which owns 58.5 percent of StoreAge, told Reuters.
He acknowledged meeting with Sun, among other companies over the past few months.
Sun shares closed up 33/64 to 93 45/64 Friday.>