Network Solutions (NSOL Quote) popped 58 7/16, or 16.2%, to 419 1/16 after VeriSign (VRSN Quote) agreed to acquire it in a stock deal valued at roughly $21 billion. VeriSign, lately sliding 37 3/8, or 15%, to 210, said it would issue 2.15 shares for each share of Network Solutions. VeriSign said it expects to complete the deal in the third quarter of fiscal 2000. According to the terms, Jim Rutt would stay on as Network Solutions CEO and report to VeriSign President and CEO Stratton Sclavos.
Procter & Gamble(PG Quote) shed 27 7/16, or 31.4%, to 60 after it warned investors it would post third-quarter earnings 10% to 11% below the year-ago 72-cents-a-share report. The company blamed its earnings shortfall on the higher cost of pulp and petroleum-based materials. The 13-analyst estimate sees Procter & Gamble reporting third-quarter earnings of 78 cents a share. Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette sliced its rating on Procter & Gamble to market performance from top pick. Merrill Lynch downgraded the stock to neutral from accumulate.
Initial public offering Net2000 Communications (NTKK Quote) was lately jumping 18, or 90%, to 38 after Goldman Sachs priced 10 million shares at $20 each, the top end of the $18-to-$20 range. Net2000 provides broadband telecom services to businesses in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states. Mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures
Dutch supermarket chain Royal Ahold (AHO Quote) lost 1/8 to 22 3/4 after it agreed to purchase U.S. Foodservice (UFS Quote) in a deal valued at $3.6 billion. U.S. Foodservice added 3/16 to 5 13/16. Ahold is forecasting a 17% to 20% increase in its fiscal 2000 EPS, including the effect of the acquisition. eBay(EBAY Quote) rose 2 5/16 to 163 7/8 after it said it would make an investment in Autotrader.com to develop an online auto auction. Entrust(ENTU Quote) popped 20 3/16, or 20.4%, to 119 1/9 after it announced an e-business alliance with Ariba (ARBA Quote). Ariba jumped 10 to 327. Separately, E*Trade selected Ariba's software for its supply-chain system. E*Trade slipped 3/4 to 25 13/16. Hitachi said that it set standards with Lucent (LU Quote) and France-based Alcatel (ALA Quote) for fiber-optic transceivers to make future products and devices compatible. Lucent dropped 3 7/8, or 5.3%, to 69 5/8, while Alcatel inched up 3/16 to 47 15/16. Nortel Networks (NT Quote) gained 2 1/16 to 131 after it said it struck a $60 million sale for its urban fiber-optic network technology to FiberNet Telecom (FTGX Quote). FiberNet rose 1 1/4, or 6.5%, to 20 5/8. SAP(SAP Quote) gained 1 1/2 to 83 1/16 and BackWeb Technologies(BWEB Quote) bounced up 2 1/4, or 5.1%, to 46 after the companies said they agreed to a pact that calls for SAP to use BackWeb's Polite push technology on its e-commerce Web site, mySAP.com. According to the companies, the Polite push product allows companies to deliver multimedia packages without interfering with customers' access. Charles Schwab (SCH Quote) and Barclays said they have entered a joint venture to set up an automated foreign exchange. The companies said they expect the facility to be up and running by the fourth quarter of fiscal 2000. Schwab dropped 1 3/16 to 46 1/2. Earnings/revenue reports and previews
(Earnings estimates from First Call/Thomson Financial; earnings reported on a diluted basis unless otherwise specified.) CVS(CVS Quote) inched up 1.3%, to 31 5/16 after it said February same-store sales increased 7.3%. Healthsouth(HRC Quote) dropped 11/16, or 12.1%, to 5 despite posting fourth-quarter earnings of 16 cents a share, in line with the 12-analyst estimate but down from the year-ago 27 cents. priceline.com(PCLN Quote) dropped 6 15/16, or 7.7%, to 83 1/8 despite Chairman and CEO Richard Braddock's announcement that first-quarter revenue growth would beat earlier analysts' estimates of 30%. Offerings and stock actions
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter priced a 4.35 million-ADR IPO for Japanese email provider Crayfish (CRFH Quote) at $24.50 an ADR, above the expected range of $22 to $24. Waddell & Reed(WDR Quote) inched up 3/16 to 31 5/16 after it set a 3-for-2 stock split. Vitria Technology(VITR Quote) soared 15 1/2, or 9.2%, to 183 5/8 after it set a 2-for-1 stock split. Analyst actions
J.P. Morgan initiated coverage of Ball (BLL Quote) with a buy rating. Ball edged up 1/4 to 27 5/16. Warburg Dillon Read upgraded oil and gas exploration company Burlington Resources (BR Quote) to strong buy from hold. Burlington Resources bounced 1 3/8 to 29 9/16. Bear Stearns analyst Scott Ehrens initiated coverage of Buy.com (BUYX Quote) with a buy rating. Buy.com lifted 1 3/4, or 12%, to 16 5/16. Prudential Securities raised its rating on Check Point Software(CHKP Quote) to strong buy from accumulate. Check Point Software gained 14 3/8, or 6%, to 250 1/2. Merrill Lynch downgraded several companies in the cosmetics/household products sector, including Clorox (CLX Quote); Avon (AVP Quote); Rayovac (ROV Quote); Dial (DL Quote); Alberto-Culver (ACV Quote) and Colgate (CL Quote). - Avon, Dial and Rayovac were cut to accumulate from buy. Avon fell 1 3/4, or 6%, to 27 and Dial slipped 1 1/4, or 7.9%, to 14 1/2, while Rayovac stumbled 1 5/8, or 7.7%, to 19 3/8.
- Clorox and Colgate were cut to neutral from accumulate. Clorox lost 4 13/16, or 12%, to 35 5/16 and Colgate shed 6 5/16, or 11.7%, to 46 5/8.
- Alberto-Culver was cut to neutral from accumulate. Alberto-Culver declined 9/16 to 20 1/4.
Warburg Dillon Read upped its price target on Corning(GLW Quote) to 260 from 175. Corning added 1 3/8 to 211. Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette analyst W. Todd Scott started coverage of Cypress Communications (CYCO Quote) with a buy rating. Cypress Communications tacked on 13/16 to 22 1/4. Merrill Lynch upgraded its intermediate-term rating on Firstar (FSR Quote) to accumulate from neutral. It kept its long-term buy rating on the stock. Firstar skidded 1/2 to 17 13/16. Lehman Brothers initiated coverage of First Bell (FBBC Quote) with a neutral rating. First Bell advanced 1/8 to 15 1/2. Merrill Lynch downgraded its long-term rating on GlobalStar(GSTRF Quote) to neutral from accumulate. The firm also sliced its intermediate rating on Loral(LOR Quote) to neutral from accumulate and cut its long-term rating to accumulate from buy. GlobalStar skidded 2 3/16, or 8.1%, to 23 1/8 and Loral stumbled 1 13/16, or 12.2%, to 13. Salomon Smith Barney initiated coverage of Healtheon/WebMD (HLTH Quote) with an outperform rating and a price target of 52. Healtheon/WebMD slipped 1 1/8 to 41 5/8. SG Cowen said it started coverage of InfoSpace.com (INSP Quote) with a strong buy rating and a price target of 310. InfoSpace.com jumped 8 to 261 1/2. Prudential Securities initiated coverage of JDS Uniphase (JDSU Quote) with a strong buy rating. JDS Uniphase popped 4 to 296 5/8. Thomas Weisel analyst David Grossman initiated coverage on Lante (LNTE Quote) with a buy rating. Lante dropped 5 3/8, or 6.7%, to 73 despite the news. Merrill Lynch initiated coverage of Magic Software (MGIC Quote), an Israel-based business solutions and software company, with a buy rating and a 12-month price target of 40. Magic Software edged up 1 to 27 15/16. Warburg upgraded Masco (MAS Quote) to strong buy from buy. Masco lifted 13/16 to 18 1/4. Goldman Sachs said Microsoft's (MSFT Quote) third quarter seems to be on track after meeting with its CFO, Jim Connors. Microsoft climbed 4 11/16, or 5.1%, to 95 7/16. Credit Suisse First Boston upgraded Nextel Communications (NXTL Quote) to strong buy from buy. Nextel Communications gained 2 15/16 to 136. ING Barings analyst Vinton Vickers raised his price target on News Corp. (NWS Quote). The 12- to 15-month price target on ADRs was lifted to 75 to 80, from 65. News Corp. tacked on 1/8 to 65 1/16. Warburg Dillon Read upgraded oil and gas exploration company Noble Affiliates (NBL Quote) to strong buy from hold. Noble Affiliates hopped 2 1/16, or 8%, to 27 5/8. Merrill upgraded its intermediate-term rating on Pharmacia & Upjohn (PNU Quote) to buy from accumulate. It maintained its long-term rating of buy on the stock. Pharmacia & Upjohn declined 1/4 to 44 1/4. Thomas Weisel analyst Kevin Hunt started coverage of Pets.com (IPET Quote). Pets.com was lately off 5/16 to 6 1/4. Prudential Securities upped its rating on RSA Security (RSAS Quote) to strong buy from hold. RSA Security leaped 13 1/16, or 17.9%, to 85 1/2. Merrill reinstated coverage of Southdown (SDW Quote) with an intermediate-term rating of accumulate and a long-term rating of buy. Southdown lost 3/8 to 49. Warburg initiated coverage of Spieker Properties (SPK Quote) with a hold rating. Spieker Properties slid 1/8 to 40 7/8. Banc of America Securities upped its price target on VoiceStream(VSTR Quote) to 161 from 117. VoiceStream skidded 11 1/4, or 7.8%, to 132 5/8. CSFB initiated coverage of Waste Connections (WCNX Quote) with a buy rating. Waste Connections was unchanged at 10 7/8. CSFB upgraded Western Wireless (WWCA Quote) to strong buy from buy. Western Wireless climbed 4 1/8, or 7.9%, to 56 1/8. Miscellany
Mastech (MAST Quote) converted itself into a holding company. Mastech said the new company, known as iGate (IGTE Quote), consists of five existing and four new divisions, which would concentrate on e-services. iGate will began trading today. iGate leaped 12 1/16, or 27%, to 55.
