STOCKS TO WATCH: Alloy Online, Oracle and Tektronix

The Generation Y retailer should be on the rise after it easily topped analysts' estimates in its fourth quarter Thursday and left its sales and earnings estimates for the first quarter and fiscal 2001 unchanged.

In the quarter, it earned $779,000, or 4 cents a share, on sales of $42.5 million.

First Call consensus expected Alloy Online to earn only 2 cents a share on sales of $35 million.

Its shares closed off 19 cents to $10 ahead of the earnings report before moving up to $10.25 in after-hours trading.

The $42.5 million in sales represents a 151 percent improvement from the year-ago quarter when it lost $4 million, or 27 cents a share, on sales of $16.9 million.

Company executives said they were comfortable with estimates for its first quarter and fiscal 2001 when it expects to reach profitability on an operating basis on sales of between $140 million and $145 million.

Oracle will be active after it met analysts' reduced estimates in its third quarter and cut estimates for the fourth quarter, traditionally its strongest quarter of the year.

After the bell Thursday, the database and application software developer posted a profit of $583 million, or 10 cents a share, on sales of $2.7 billion.

Its shares closed off $1.38 to $14.69 ahead of the earnings report.

"We're assuming that the economy gets a little worse in Q4 than Q3. What the economy does, we'll do," Chief Executive Officer Larry Ellison said in conference call with analysts.

Tektronix might dip Friday after it beat analysts' estimates in its third quarter but warned that the economic slowdown crippling other chip and chip-equipment makers will result in lower-than-expected sales in its fourth quarter.

In the quarter, it pocketed in $35.5 million, or 37 cents a share, on sales of $326.9 million.

First Call consensus expected the manufacturer of test, measurement and monitoring equipment for the semiconductor industry to earn 32 cents a share on sales of $313.8 million.

Tektronix shares closed off 34 cents to $24.66 ahead of the earnings report.

However, company executives now expect fourth-quarter sales to improve only 10 percent to 12 percent from the year-ago quarter, resulting in sales growth of only 20 percent for the fiscal year. Operating margins are expected to check in at between 14 percent and 15 percent.

In fiscal 2000, Tektronix returned a profit of 83 cents a share on sales of $1.12 billion.