STOCKS TO WATCH: Manugistics, Micro Component and Via Net.Works

Expect Manugistics shares to be active Monday ahead of its fourth-quarter earnings report.

Analysts are expecting a profit of 5 cents a share on sales of $81.3 million compared to a loss of 2 cents a share on sales of $43.7 million in the year-ago quarter.

The maker of supply-chain management software pocketed $3.4 million, or 5 cents a share, on sales of $70 million in its third quarter.

Trading around $26 a share, Manugistics shares are off more than 60 percent from their peak of $66.06 in November.

Earlier this month, company executives confirmed it would meet analysts' fourth-quarter targets despite the sluggish economy and profit warnings from leading software firms.

Its shares closed up $1.88 to $26.88 Friday.

The chip-equipment maker will be active Monday after revising its fourth-quarter and year-end results after fixing what it called a "computational programming error."

Fortunately for shareholders, the corrected results are actually slightly better than the erroneous figures released in February.

It now says it lost $15.5 million, or $1.34 a share in fiscal 2000. It originally reported a loss of $16.4 million, or $1.43 a share.

The net loss for the fourth quarter came in at $10 million, or 72 cents a share, better than the $11 million, or 79 cents a share, it previously reported.

In a prepared release, company executives said in preparing its form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, it corrected a computational error used to calculate adjustments for accounting changes.

The stock closed up 44 cents to $2.94 ahead of the announcement before falling to $2.88 in after-hours trading.

Via Net.Works shares figure to slide Monday after the Internet services provider warned that it will post wider-than-expected losses in its first quarter and fiscal 2001.

Company executives said late Friday it now expects to post a first-quarter loss of between 50 cents and 53 cents a share. It now expects its fiscal 2001 loss to fall between $1.87 a share and $1.95 a share on sales of roughly $135 million.

First Call consensus was expecting a loss of 50 cents a share in the first quarter and $1.90 a share in the fiscal year on sales of $149.7 million.

Its shares closed off 3 cents to $3.53 ahead of the warning before slipping to $3.50 in after-hours trading.

The slowing economy and unfavorable exchange rates were blamed for the shortfall. >