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THE WEEK AHEAD: Brocade, ADC earnings on deck

2 min read

Technology stocks continued to stammer through this holiday-shortened trading week despite a Black Friday rebound. With the presidential election still undecided, analysts expect more volatile and uninspired trading for the foreseeable future.

That's not to say there wasn't some non-presidential news affecting the market this week.

Several analysts lashed out at leading telecom-equipment makers and beleaguered Internet stocks this week, adding further insult to injury.

``We have technology analysts acting like rats leaving the ship,'' said Bill Meehan, chief market analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald. ``Analysts are hacking away at estimates and I expect that where we are right now is still probably too optimistic for 2001.''

Agilent Technologies (NYSE: A) gave investors some good news this week when it topped analysts' estimates in its fourth quarter.

Agilent returned a profit of $319 million, or 69 cents a share, on sales of $3.37 billion, well above the First Call Corp. consensus estimate of 53 cents a share.

Novell (Nasdaq: NOVL) managed to meet analysts' estimates in its fourth quarter, breaking even on a per-share basis on sales of $273.3 million.

However, its share fell to a 52-week low after Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock and other analysts issued cautionary statements.

Looking ahead to next week, investors will get to mull over earnings from several key technology firms.

  • ADC Telecom (Nasdaq: ADCT) will report its fourth-quarter results next week with analysts expecting a profit of 17 cents a share.

    Last quarter, it beat Street estimates when it earned $137 million, or 20 cents a share, on sales of $891 million.

  • Brocade (Nasdaq: BRCD) reports its fourth quarter earnings. Analysts are expecting a profit of 20 cents a share, according to First Call.

  • Credence Systems (Nasdaq: CMOS) will check in with its fourth-quarter earnings report.

    First Call Corp. consensus expects it to earn 95 cents a share in the quarter, up from the $41 million, or 74 cents a share, it pocketed in the third quarter.

  • Crossroads Systems (Nasdaq: CRDS) is expected to lose 21 cents a share in its fourth quarter.

    In the third quarter, it missed the Street estimate, dropping $8 million, or 30 cents a share, on sales of $4.8 million.

  • FirePond (Nasdaq: FIRE) and Wind River Systems (Nasdaq: WIND) will also report next week. Analysts are forecasting a loss of 3 cents a share in its fourth quarter for FirePond and a profit of 10 cents a share for Wind River Systems.