THE DAY AHEAD: Stocks to Watch

E-commerce software developer CheckFree Holdings should be worth following Tuesday when the company reviews its Internet strategy for analysts during a conference call after the bell.

Company officials said the call will coincide with the beginning of visits to institutional investors in support of a secondary stock offering filed on June 1. The Company filed to sell 3.8 millon shares, 1,375,000 of which are being offered by certain selling shareholders, including 450,000 by three former members of the Integrion Financial Network.

CheckFree shares closed off 1 7/8 to 35 3/8 Monday.

Eleven of the 13 analysts following the stock rate it either a "buy" or "strong buy."

The San Francisco Internet software developer said late Monday it would acquire dotOne Corp., a leading email messaging service provider based in Salt Lake City.

Critical Path shares closed off 3 3/16 to 45 1/16 Monday.

"We believe the acquisition will enhance Critical Path's leading position in the email outsourcing market by increasing our customer base and developing new value-added services for the enterprise market through our expanded midsource strategy,'' said CEO Doug Hickey in a prepared release.

Critical Path shares stormed up to a high of 150 ? shortly after its initial public offering in April. Last week, the stock fell to a low of 45.

Maxtor shares will free fall Tuesday after the disk-drive manufacturer warned that it would report a loss in its second quarter. First Call consensus expected the Milpitas, Calif. company to earn 1 cent a share in the quarter.

Company officials now say it will lose between $23 million to $33 million in the quarter including a $22 million gain from the sale of stock acquired from the merger of a former subsidiary. Not good.

``The pricing environment has deteriorated significantly from what we saw earlier this quarter," said CEO Mike Cannon in a prepared release. ``As we reviewed results from the second month of the quarter, it became evident that the decline in pricing will be significantly greater than we anticipated in April. Our unit shipments and revenue will also be lower than we had expected, as we take appropriate steps to cut back on production and limit our participation in the channels in which pricing declines are the most problematic."

Maxtor shares fell 3/16 to 5 3/16 Monday.

The database software developer (estimates) will be very active ahead of its fourth quarter earnings report due out after the bell.

First Call consensus expects Oracle to earn 32 cents a share in the quarter, up from the 27 cents a share it made in the comparable period a year earlier.

Wall Street has every reason to be skeptical. In the third quarter, Oracle's earnings were in line with estimates, but revenue fell well short of projections. Oracle reported third quarter sales of $2.08 billion, but Wall Street was expecting $2.2 billion.

Oracle did gain 1 1/8 to 26 7/16 Monday.

Solectron met analysts' estimates in its third quarter Monday, earning $75.7 million, or 29 cents a share, on sales of $2.15 billion. Its shares closed up 7/16 to 58 1/8.

First Call consensus expected the Milpitas, Calif. company to earn 29 cents a share in the quarter.

The $2.15 billion in sales represents a 68 percent jump versus the year-ago period when it earned $49.2 million, or 20 cents a share, on sales of $1.28 billion.

Solectron shares moved up to a 52-week high of 60 earlier this month after falling to a low of 17 11/16 last June.

Thirteen of the 19 analysts following the stock maintain either a "buy" or "strong buy" recommendation.

First Call consensus expects Solectron to earn $1.13 a share in the fiscal year.