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STOCKS TO WATCH: Caldera, Intuit and Semtech

2 min read

Expect the following technology stocks to be among Wednesday's most actively traded issues: Caldera, Intuit and Semtech.

  • Caldera Systems (Nasdaq: CALD)

    Caldera shares will be active after it posted a smaller-than-expected loss in its third quarter, losing $7.5 million, or 19 cents a share, on sales of $1.2 million.

    First Call Corp. consensus expected the maker of Linux-based software to lose 24 cents a share.

    Its shares closed unchanged at 6 1/2.

    The $1.2 million in sales marks only a 9 percent increase from the year-ago quarter, when it lost $2.2 million, or 13 cents a share, on sales of $1.1 million.

    Caldera officials said the larger third-quarter loss was a result of additional infrastructure investments as well as increased advertising and marketing expenses.

    Caldera shares peaked at 33 shortly after its initial public offering in March. The stock fell to a low of 6 1/8 earlier this month.

  • Intuit (Nasdaq: INTU)

    Intuit should move higher after posting a fourth-quarter loss of $8.2 million, or 4 cents a share, on sales of $162.3 million, excluding gains made from investments.

    Analysts were expecting a loss of 9 cents a share.

    Including pretax gains on the sale of investments, Intuit earned $17.1 million, or 8 cents a share, compared with $263 million, or $1.29 a share in the year-ago quarter.

    In the fiscal year, Intuit said profit excluding gains from the sale of investments rose to $134.2 million, or 64 cents a share, from $99.6 million, or 50 cents a share.

    Its shares closed off 3/16 to 46 1/16 ahead of the earnings report.

  • Semtech (Nasdaq: SMTC)

    The chipmaker should gain ground Wednesday after topping analysts' estimates in its second quarter and setting a 2-for-1 stock split.

    In the quarter, the maker of analog and mixed-signal chips earned $13.7 million, or 36 cents a share, on sales of $60.6 million.

    First Call Corp. consensus expected it to earn 34 cents a share in the quarter.

    Its shares closed up 3/8 to 98 ahead of the earnings report.

    The $60.6 million in sales represents a 59 percent improvement from the year-ago quarter when it pocketed $6.2 million, or 18 cents a share, on sales of $38.3 million.

    In the quarter, new orders jumped 16 percent from the first quarter.

    Company officials credited strong demand from communications and industrial customers for the upside surprise.

    CEO Jack Poe said the company expects to achieve double-digit sales growth in the third quarter.