STOCKS TO WATCH: EDS, GoAmerica and SCI
Expect the following technology stocks to be among Tuesday's most actively traded issues: EDS, GoAmerica and SCI Systems.
The computer services firm will be worth tracking after CEO Dick Brown confirmed late Monday that the company's comfortable with fiscal 2001 profit estimates of $2.63 a share.
EDS shares closed off 26 cents to $61.44 Monday.
"We are in an industry that has double-digit growth," Brown said in a meeting with analysts, according to Reuters. "We are determined to show we cannot only keep pace with market growth, but exceed it."
EDS has traditionally defined "organic base revenue growth" as excluding the effects of factors such as acquisitions and divestitures and excluding business with its former parent and single biggest customer General Motors (NYSE: GM).
EDS ended 2000 with contracts totaling $15.8 billion, up 41 percent from $11.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 1999, as the company emerged from two years of extensive restructuring and streamlining.
The company reported 2000 revenues of $19.23 billion, up from $18.7 billion in 1999.
GoAmerica figures to gain ground after it posted a smaller-than-expected loss in its fourth quarter, dropping $19.4 million, or 37 cents a share, on sales of $6.1 million.
First Call Corp. consensus expected the provider of wireless Internet and data services to lose 40 cents a share in the quarter.
Its shares closed up 81 cents, or 20 percent, to $4.88 ahead of the earnings report before moving up to $4.94 in after-hours trading.
The $6.1 million in sales represents a 389 percent improvement from the year-ago quarter when it lost $15.7 million, or 66 cents a share, on sales of $1.2 million.
GoAmerica exited the quarter with 47,632 subscribers, up 712 percent from the year-ago period when it serviced 5,869 subscribers.
Keep an eye on SCI Tuesday after it announced it would lay off 3,800 employees, or 10 percent of its staff, due to slumping personal computer sales.
"We are experiencing a rapid shift in our business mix consistent with our strategic objectives and market conditions. It is imperative that SCI be proactive in preparing for future growth," said CEO Gene Sapp in a prepared release.
The company, based in Huntsville, Ala., and with operations in 20 countries, did not say which of its 52 facilities would be affected.
SCI said it would take a one-time charge of between $40 million in $60 million in the third quarter during a realignment.
The stock fell 88 cents to $22.95 Monday.