STOCKS TO WATCH: Cisco, Activision, Teligent, IBM
Stocks to watch on Wednesday:
The maker of network routers and switches edged past the consensus estimate in the third quarter.
After market close Tuesday, Cisco reported fiscal third quarter pro forma net income of $1.03 billion, or 14 cents per share, excluding one-time charges, taxes related to options and gains on some investments. First Call's survey of 34 analysts predicted a profit of 13 cents per share for the quarter ended April 29.
CEO Lou Gerstner kicked off Big Blue's annual shindig for Wall Street analysts Tuesday with an optimistic outlook.
Gerstner said the Y2K hangover is history, the second half is looking good and the company's portfolio restructuring will pay off in upcoming quarters.
The game software company fell short of its own downwardly-revised expectations in the fourth quarter, and lowered its prediction for the fiscal 2001.
Activision reported fiscal fourth quarter net income of 1 million, or 4 cents per share, excluding restructuring costs. First Call's recently lowered consensus estimate predicted a profit of 9 cents per share.
Activision predicted fiscal 2001 revenues for the industry and the company itself would fall 10 percent year-over-year, excluding restructuring charges. The company sees its EPS, outside of special charges, falling 30 percent from fiscal 2000 as it boosts spending on software for next-generation platforms even as software retail prices fall.
Also Tuesday, Activision announced a buyback of up to $10 million of common stock. The company plans to finance the purchase of shares and notes with available cash.
Fourth quarter revenue of $47.3 million was more than double from the year-ago period.
The provider of wireless communications services reported a first quarter loss of $156 million or $3.02 a share. First Call consensus predicted a loss of $3.14 per share.
First-quarter revenues jumped to $23.1 million, above some analysts' expectations, compared with $1.5 million a year ago. Sales jumped 50 percent over the $15.5 million recorded in the previous comparable quarter.
The provider of speech and language recognition technology reported first quarter earnings of $12.2 million, or 19 cents per share, excluding one-time events. First Call consensus predicted a profit of 15 cents per share.
First quarter revenue increased to $110.7 million, up 57 percent year-over-year.>