The Night Watch: Peregrine Dives, but Paradyne Takes Off

Even though investors had plenty of news to digest after the close Tuesday the extended session wasn't seeing heavy trading, but that didn't stop several big name winners and losers from emerging.

Merger partners Hewlett-Packard (HWP Quote) and Compaq (CPQ Quote) were among the most active stocks after the bell following news that a Delaware judge ruled that the deal can go through, thwarting Walter Hewlett's attempt to stop the union. H-P was down 1.4% to $16.86, but Compaq was climbing 3.4% to $14.69.

Paradyne Networks (PDYN Quote) was the big winner, trading up 32% to $3.05 after the company posted quarterly earnings that easily beat estimates. PC-Tel (PCTI Quote) was climbing 8.2% to $8.87 after it topped the consensus bottom line forecast even as revenue fell.

Among the declining issues, S1 (SONE Quote) was falling 24% to $6.80 on the heels of the company's quarterly loss and warning that more red ink is coming. Peregrine Systems (PRGN Quote) was lower by 12% to $6 after the company said its fourth-quarter report will be delayed while its new auditors go over its results. Sycamore Networks (SCMR Quote) was off almost 7% to $3.15, thanks to the revelation that third-quarter revenue will fall short of analysts' expectations.

Widely held shares, mostly tech stocks, were taking up the majority of the slots on the Instinet volume leader board. The Nasdaq 100 Unit Trust (QQQ Quote) was the most active issue, tacking on 0.1% to $31.75. WorldCom (WCOM Quote) was down 2% to $2.43, and Tyco (TYC Quote) was gaining 1.1% to $18.65.

Oracle (ORCL Quote) was up 0.5%, and Cisco (CSCO Quote) was ahead by 0.3%. Dell (DELL Quote) was up 0.4%, while Microsoft (MSFT Quote) inched down 0.2%.

Sun Micro (SUNW Quote) tacked on 0.2%, and Intel (INTC Quote) was unchanged.

Overall, volume was on the light side. In the first two hours of extra trading, around 2.5 million shares changed hands among the 20 most active stocks being swapped on Instinet.