Wednesday's Late Winners & Losers

Stocks leaned to the negative side after the market's close Wednesday, and among the heavily traded after-hours decliners was Symantec (SYMC).

Shares lost ground after the Cupertino, Calif.-based security software company predicted non-GAAP earnings would be between 25 cents and 30 cents a share in the fiscal third quarter. That would miss the mean estimate by at least a penny. Second-quarter income of 29 cents a share was better than anticipated, but shares were still off 11.12% to $18.68.

Cirrus Logic (CRUS) tumbled 9% to $6.35 after the Texas-based chipmaker swung to a GAAP-based fiscal second-quarter loss of $332,000 vs. last year's $9.3 million profit.

Elsewhere in tech, Seattle's F5 Networks (FFIV) gave up 9.8% after fiscal fourth-quarter earnings slid 28.6% to 15 cents a share. Excluding a one-time, 16-cent acquisition charge, results come in well over analysts' expectations for 11 cents a share. But F5 shares were still trading down, to $36.52.

The company also announced the departure of Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales Tom Hull. Mark Anderson will replace him.

Align Technology (ALGN), maker of Invisalign braces, took a hard postclose fall after saying that CFO Eldon Bullington plans to retire in December. He will be succeeded by Kenneth Arola. The company simultaneously released third-quarter results that reflected a better-than-expected profit to reverse a year-ago loss. Still, shares plummeted 22.3% to $22.30.

Weight-management company NutriSystem (NTRI) topped third-quarter profit estimates by a penny a share, but it also projected next-quarter sales to be flat with last year's $133.6 million. Analysts are looking for $143.7 million in revenue. The company also cut full-year sales guidance by at least $34 million, to between $770 million and $776 million.

The Horsham, Pa., company additionally named David Clark as its new CFO to replace James Brown, whose upcoming resignation was announced in August. NutriSystem shares surrendered $2.72, or 9.9%, to $24.78.

Elsewhere, Eli Lilly (LLY) and partner Daiichi Sankyo said they're effectively halting two small midphase trials of prasugrel, an investigational anti-clotting drug, "until approval of amendments, which may include adjustments in dosing for certain subpopulations." Shares of Indianapolis-based Lilly were off 4.3% to $53.72.

On the flip side, VMware (VMW) shares lifted 4.2% to $107.85 after the virtualization-products purveyor flattened third-quarter Street targets. The Palo Alto, Calif., company reported non-GAAP income of 23 cents a share on sales of $357.8 million, compared with estimates for 17 cents a share on $334.4 million in sales.

Majority owner EMC (EMC), which was VMWare's parent company prior to its August initial public offering, added 1.6% to $22.89.

Akamai Technologies (AKAM) pocketed "normalized" earnings of 34 cents a share in the third quarter, which topped Street views by a penny. Revenue was in line at $161.2 million. Shares of the Cambridge, Mass., Internet-technology company added 1.9% to $33.60 in recent late trading.

And Express Scripts (ESRX) also came in past third-quarter profit estimates. The St. Louis-based company, which sells pharmacy benefit-management services, booked 42.9%-higher adjusted earnings (year on year) of 60 cents a share. Its stock gained $1.65, or 2.9%, to $59.02.