The Night Watch: Manugistics Soaring, Juniper Grabbing Some Pennies

Manugistics (MANU Quote) headed higher in Thursday's extended session after posting a narrower-than-forecast loss for the third quarter.

The company, which makes software that enables manufacturers to share their purchasing and inventory data with suppliers over the Web, said its adjusted third-quarter loss, excluding amortization, charges and other items, was $7.6 million, or 11 cents a share, compared with adjusted net income of $3.7 million, or 6 cents a share last year. The company previously told analysts its third-quarter loss would be in line with the second-quarter's loss of 16 cents a share.

Revenues fell to $68.7 million from $70 million in the year-ago quarter. Manugistics lately gained 9.2% to $17.29 on Instinet.

Software maker Siebel Systems (SEBL Quote) gained 0.1% to $26.95, while Veritas Software (VRTS Quote) was up 0.4% to $41.90.

Investors weren't restrained by the relative lack of news in the after-hours session. Many tech majors on the most-actives list were inching higher, as investors dug around for bargains after the regular session's selloff.

Among them were Juniper Networks (JNPR Quote), whose earnings warning shook Wall Street today.

The maker of network equipment said Thursday it expects to earn a pro forma 5 cents a share on revenues of $150 million to $155 million in the fourth quarter; analysts had been expecting earnings of 10 cents on revenues in the $200 million range. The company's shares, which tumbled 17.7% to close at $18.88, recently climbed 0.6% to $18.96 on Instinet.

Cisco Systems (CSCO Quote), trodden today along with Juniper, was one of the most actively traded stocks tonight. It was up 1.1% to $19.50, from its close of $18.29.

Other tech favorites like Microsoft (MSFT Quote), Oracle (ORCL Quote) and Yahoo! (YHOO Quote) climbed.

Contract electronics manufacturer Solectron (SLR Quote) was the most actively traded issue on Instinet, with 465,000 shares changing hands by 5 p.m., although the price was flat. Rival Jabil (JBL Quote) said this morning that quarterly earnings fell more than 80%, and warned it expects a slower rebound in its business.

Shares of Palm (PALM Quote), the handheld computer maker, slipped 4.1% to $3.3 on Island a day after it posted a loss on a 44% drop in revenues, but said it plans to launch a range of new products in 2002.

Meanwhile, bandwidth merchant Level Three Communications (LVLT Quote) lost 0.2% to $5.06.