E.Piphany, SeeBeyond Hammered

Updated from April 5

Two smaller-cap software makers -- E.piphany(EPNY) and SeeBeyond(SBYN) -- joined a relatively modest warnings parade Monday, preannouncing that first-quarter results will come in weak because several large deals failed to close during the period.

Customer relationship management software maker E.piphany kicked off the holiday week with a post-close announcement that both its bottom and top lines will fall short of expectations. That was followed shortly thereafter by integration software maker SeeBeyond. Their slipped-deals excuse echoed a warning last week from Kana Software (KANA) and Sybase(SY), but ran counter to a stronger-than-expected preannouncement Friday from No. 1 CRM company Siebel Systems(SEBL).

In premarket Tuesday trading, shares of E.piphany were off $1.45, or 18%, to $6.50, more than reversing a 53 cent, or 7.1%, climb to $7.95 in regular trading Monday. Shares of SeeBeyond plummeted 79 cents, or 16.7%, to $3.95 after closing up 14 cents, or 3%, at $4.74 yesterday.

After the close, San Mateo, Calif.-based E.piphany said it expects to lose 7 cents a share, including a loss of 2 cents a share for restructuring and other charges, on total revenue of $20 million. That fell far short of the penny-a-share loss and $25.4 million in revenue expected by analysts polled by Thomson First Call.

E.piphany said license revenue would total $7 million and service revenue would ring in at $13 million.

"A number of large transactions were delayed this quarter," CEO Karen Richardson said in a press release. "We are disappointed by these results."

Four deals worth more than $1 million failed to close during the quarter, Richardson said in a post-close conference call. Of those, one is on hold because the potential customer is in the middle of a merger.

Monrovia, Calif.-based SeeBeyond made similar comments in its warning less than an hour later. "Unfortunately, there were several large license deals that the new sales force in North America was not able to close in the first quarter," SeeBeyond CFO Barry Plaga said in a press release. "Moving into the second quarter, we have a more experienced sales force along with a backlog of deals that are well on their way to closing."

SeeBeyond reiterated it expects to break even or post a profit on a GAAP basis in the second quarter.

But in the just-completed first quarter, SeeBeyond said it expects to post a loss under generally accepted accounting principles of 7 to 8 cents a share on revenue of $33 million to $34 million. That fell short of the company's guidance estimating a GAAP net loss of 1 cent to 3 cents a share on $36 million to $38 million in revenue.

Analyst estimates called for a loss of a penny a share on revenue of $38 million in the first quarter.

>To order reprints of this article, click here: Reprints