Documentum gains on pre-announcement

Documentum (Nasdaq: DCTM) rose 20 percent Friday after reaffirming financial guidance for 2001 after Thursday's bell.

Shares in the provider of content management software were up 8.38 to 48.5 on the news, in spite of a downgrade from Morgan Stanley Dean Witter which said the company would face tough times due to the slow-down in IT spending.

The company said it was confortable with the Street's revenue consensus of $57.7 million for its first quarter. It also reaffirmed guidance for 50 percent revenue growth, an operating income of 15 percent as a percentage of total revenue for Q4 2001, and plans for doubling the quota-assigned sales personnel by the end of 2001.

"Talk of a global recession has us carefully watching our customer demand, but so far our discussions ... confirm that e-commerce and content management initiatives remain high priorities for their IT spending in 2001," said CEO Jeff Miller in a release.

The company said the outlook for e-commerce is promising in 2001, with content management emerging as an integral component.

Just before the company issued guidance, Morgan Stanley issued a research note saying it was downgrading the stock based on anticipation of slowing IT budget growth.

"Documentum is making great strides in its transition to an e-content company, but the journey may get riskier in a tougher spending environment," analyst Charles E. Phillips said in a reasearch note.

Documentum shares stuck in reverse