STOCKS TO WATCH: Emulex, Lernout & Hauspie and Powertel
Expect the following technology stocks to be among Monday's most actively traded issues: Emulex, Lernout & Hauspie and Powertel.
It will be interesting to see how Emulex shares trade Monday after the stock lost more than half its value after a bogus press release was picked up by several mainstream media outlets.
The hoax sent Emulex shares into a free fall after both Bloomberg and the Dow Jones news wires reported that Emulex had been forced to restate earnings in fiscal 1998 and 1999 and that the company was under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
It was all a farce.
Once the story was uncovered, Emulex shares made a spirited rally but still closed off 7 5/16 to 105 3/4.
"The negative statements in this fictitious press release are categorically false," Emulex CEO Paul Folino said in a prepared release. The company said that the bogus release used the Emulex name and logo.
The Belgian voice recognition software maker should be active after announcing late Friday it had filed a shelf registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the sale of up to $250 million in stock.
Once registered, these shares will be available for sale when the company believes that market conditions are favorable, Lernout & Hauspie said.
Proceeds from the offering would be used to repay bank debt and working capital.
Its shares closed off 4 5/8 to 30 1/16 Friday.
Powertel shares will be hopping on news that Deutsche Telekom AG was buying the U.S. cell phone company for $5.89 billion.
Powertel has 727,000 mobile phone customers and a market capitalization of more than $2.6 billion.
Powertel shares closed up 4 11/16 to 86 5/8 Friday.
Reuters contributed to this report. >