Pinnacle sees disappointing 4Q

Pinnacle Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: PCLE) reached its nadir Tuesday after announcing that fourth quarter results will miss analysts' estimates.

Shares in the digital video software maker were chopped in half Tuesday, down 12 39/64 to 10 1/64, or 55 percent.

Net income is expected to be between 6 and 8 cents a share, excluding acquisition-related and one-time charges. That's just half of First Call's expectation of 16 cents a share.

Net sales for the fourth quarter are expected to be about $62 million, up more than 30 percent over the same quarter last year, but below internal expectations. The company also preannounced its fiscal 2000 results; net sales for the year are expected to increase nearly 50 percent over fiscal 1999.

The fourth quarter was particularly back-end loaded and a significant amount of business closed in the last week on terms less favorable than expected, the company said.

The resulting sales shortfall and compressed margins only became apparent after the end of the quarter.

The company will announce its financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal 2000 on July 25.

The company competes with Avid Technology (Nasdaq: AVID), Matsushita (NYSE: MC) and Sony (NYSE: SNE).