The Night Watch: Solectron, KLA-Tencor Punished in After-Hours Trading
03/19/01 - 07:55 PM EST
Yi Ping Ho
(Updated from 7:12 p.m. EST)
Today's gains were matched in after-the-bell activity, as buyers busted ahead of tomorrow's highly anticipated fed funds rate
cut. Nevertheless, some bad after-the-bell company news tempered the evening bounce.
Solectron (SLR Quote - Cramer on SLR - Stock Picks) saw its shares fall on Instinet after it warned in a conference call it would probably not meet its previous sales forecast of $23 billion for fiscal 2001, according to Reuters. The stock recently slid 10.4% to $19.25, after closing at $21.49 on the New York Stock Exchange . In its after-the-bell earnings announcement, the Milpitas, Calif.-based company, the world's No. 1 electronics manufacturing and management services company, posted second-quarter results that topped analysts' expectations by a penny but said it would cut up to 8,200 jobs amid "significant reduction" in customer demand. The company said in its statement: "Unfortunately, with significantly lower customer demand, we are unable to support our recent levels of employment, and we have been reducing our work force at many sites. In addition, we will implement a plan to balance our capacity and capabilities as we prepare the organization for a reacceleration of growth." A rival firm, Singapore's Flextronics International (FLEX Quote - Cramer on FLEX - Stock Picks), also felt the heat as its shares lost 3.48% to $22.56 on Island ECN. Semiconductor names rose in regular trading today, but this evening they suffered again as shares of KLA-Tencor (KLAC Quote - Cramer on KLAC - Stock Picks), which were halted ahead of its after-the bell earnings warning, lately fell 1.8% to $41 on Island. KLA-Tencor, which makes tools that identify semiconductor defects during manufacturing, said third-quarter earnings would miss the 58 cents a share estimate, while revenue for the quarter would be 8% to 10% below its previous forecast of $570 million to $580 million. The company blamed its shortfall on excess semiconductor chip inventory caused by the "slowing end-market demand across the majority of semiconductor segments" and "slowing global economic growth." Investors, quaking after the warning, bid down another chip name, Applied Materials (AMAT Quote - Cramer on AMAT - Stock Picks), whose shares were falling 1.34% to $46 in Island activity. Beleaguered PSINet (PSIX Quote - Cramer on PSIX - Stock Picks) was recently breathing its last. At one point, the stock lost about 8.3% to a paltry 17 cents. The shares lately settled at 19 cents on Island. The company, an Internet access and Web-hosting services provider that has been trying to sell assets, said today it plans to restructure its obligations to bondholders and creditors. But investors were by and large saying, "Go Greenspan!" as winners dominated the most heavily traded stocks. Intel (INTC Quote - Cramer on INTC - Stock Picks) recently saw cheer as it gained on both after-hours trading platforms. The stock, which bottomed to a new 52-week low of $25.38 during the day, managed to rise 0.7% to $25.25 on Instinet and 0.69% to $27.25 on Island. Tech worries have abounded in recent weeks, and Intel was today's major source of anxiety. The world's largest chipmaker received a negative note from high-profile U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray analyst Ashok Kumar, who waxed extremely bearish on the stock. The after-hours crew also sent some recently beaten-down tech names up. Oracle (ORCL Quote - Cramer on ORCL - Stock Picks) lately rose 1.01% to $15.59 on Island, while Cisco Systems (CSCO Quote - Cramer on CSCO - Stock Picks) climbed 0.9% to $21 on Instinet. WorldCom (WCOM Quote - Cramer on WCOM - Stock Picks) gained 0.7% to $18.50. And Rambus maintained its comeback on Island, as shares of the chip designer gained 2.89% to $19.60. The stock regained some ground today after J.P. Morgan H&Q analyst Eric Chen said its price was a buying opportunity.
As the market awaits the first day of spring, the S&P 500 futures were recently off 0.5 points at 1180, but 3.4 points above fair value, indicating a slight bounce for the broader market. The Nasdaq 100 futures, up 4 points at 1760.5, were recently 9.8 points ahead of fair value, suggesting that the tech-heavy Nasdaq faces upward pressure tomorrow.
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| 10 most active stocks on Instinet (6:30 p.m. EST) | |||
| Company | Price | Change | Session Volume |
| Solectron (SLR Quote - Cramer on SLR - Stock Picks) | 19.25 | -2.24 | 458,200 |
| Intel (INTC Quote - Cramer on INTC - Stock Picks) | 27.25 | +0.19 | 271,232 |
| Cisco Systems (CSCO Quote - Cramer on CSCO - Stock Picks) | 21.00 | +0.19 | 269,144 |
| Nasdaq 100 (QQQ Quote - Cramer on QQQ - Stock Picks) | 43.29 | +0.03 | 266,650 |
| Seitel ( SEI Quote - Cramer on SEI - Stock Picks) | 18.85 | -- | 200,000 |
| Oracle ( ORCL Quote - Cramer on ORCL - Stock Picks) | 15.69 | +0.25 | 154,615 |
| Qualcomm ( QCOM Quote - Cramer on QCOM - Stock Picks) | 58.44 | +0.25 | 115,102 |
| Inktomi ( INKT Quote - Cramer on INKT - Stock Picks) | 6.26 | -0.02 | 102,700 |
| WorldCom (WCOM Quote - Cramer on WCOM - Stock Picks) | 18.50 | +0.13 | 95,126 |
| Applied Materials (AMAT Quote - Cramer on AMAT - Stock Picks) | 46.00 | -0.63 | 83,505 |
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| 10 most active stocks on Island ECN (8:00 p.m. EDT) | |||
| Company | Price | Change | Session Volume |
| PSINet (PSIX Quote - Cramer on PSIX - Stock Picks) | 0.19 | -- | 210,744 |
| Nasdaq 100 (QQQ Quote - Cramer on QQQ - Stock Picks) | 43.30 | n.a. | 141,081 |
| Juniper Networks (JNPR Quote - Cramer on JNPR - Stock Picks) | 58.38 | -0.06 | 89,798 |
| Cisco Systems (CSCO Quote - Cramer on CSCO - Stock Picks) | 21.06 | +0.25 | 89,779 |
| Intel (INTC Quote - Cramer on INTC - Stock Picks) | 27.25 | +0.19 | 83,151 |
| Oracle (ORCL Quote - Cramer on ORCL - Stock Picks) | 15.59 | +0.16 | 74,882 |
| JDS Uniphase (JDSU Quote - Cramer on JDSU - Stock Picks) | 24.88 | +0.25 | 50,344 |
| Ariba (ARBA Quote - Cramer on ARBA - Stock Picks) | 11.69 | +0.31 | 47,047 |
| Sun Microsystems (SUNW Quote - Cramer on SUNW - Stock Picks) | 19.06 | -- | 46,075 |
| Ciena (CIEN Quote - Cramer on CIEN - Stock Picks) | 52.75 | +0.31 | 46,075 |
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