The Night Watch: Mercator Software Slumps on Revision of Results

(Updated from 7:23 p.m. EDT)

Shhh! Don't wake the traders. Tonight's session has been sleepy so far, with volume at summer-doldrums levels despite a newsy Monday evening.

Mercator Software (MCTR Quote) fell 6 cents to 16.31 after reporting adjusted first- and second-quarter earnings caused by underaccrued expense items of $2.4 million.

The company stirred up suspicion and lost 43% of its value on Wednesday after notifying the Securities and Exchange Commission that it will be late filing its quarterly report for the second quarter because "necessary financial information is not yet available." So the revision announced this evening was not a complete surprise, as traders expected some kind of negative announcement from the company.

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E-business software maker MicroStrategy(MSTR Quote) saw its stock catapult 40% higher in the day session after it announced a deal with IBM(IBM Quote), and it kept the gains going after the close.

The idea is to provide MicroStrategy's software to IBM customers as part of IBM's services offerings. IBM will form a team to sell MSTR's software to IBM customers, the companies said in a statement.

The midsession announcement was greeted with enthusiasm as MicroStrategy shares soared on five times the usual volume. Tonight it continued to ascend, rising 43 cents to 30.

MicroStrategy's software applications help businesses track and analyze customer data and facilitate e-business transactions through Web, wireless and voice channels.

The MicroStrategy 7 software package allows companies to deliver personalized messages to customers who can also filter when and how they want to see the information sent.

MicroStrategy will also use IBM's software to revamp its own products. IBM's software helps integrate traditional databases with Internet technology.

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Biopharmaceutical company Cytogen(CYTO Quote) popped almost 19% today and was the most active name on Island ECN on chat-room buzz and a mention on CNBC. CNBC reported that Cytogen was up after a report in The Philadelphia Inquirer said it was working with the same type of gene technology as Celera(CRA Quote), which has recently been lifted by the genomics hype spurred by advances in the field of cancer research. Genomics is the identification and characterization of genes, used to find cures for life-threatening diseases.

Cytogen rallied a further 33 cents to 7.40 on 170,000 Island shares.

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Evoke Communications (EVOK Quote) evoked some heavy buying today, enough to tack on an extra 40% to the price of the newly public Web conferencing and Webcasting firm. After bringing it to market in its July 24 initial public offering, underwriters Salomon Smith Barney and Robertson Stephens each initiated coverage of Evoke with a buy rating and a 12-month price target of 25. (Evoke's IPO quiet period, during which underwriters could not initiate coverage of the stock, ended Friday.) Salomon was the lead underwriter for the Internet teleconferencing firm, while Robertson Stephens was a co-manager of the July offering.

Evoke hit a new low of 4.81 on Thursday but popped higher last week after announcing an alliance with Lycos (LCOS Quote) to provide joint Web conferencing and voice chat services.

Nighttime traders boosted Evoke a further 53 cents, or 7.4%, to 7.62.

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Nvidia (NVDA Quote) was a red spot in a sea of evening green. The graphics processing technology developer reported what appeared to be better-than-expected second-quarter earnings but still slipped 3.93, or 5%, to 74.25. The company posted profits of 28 cents a share, up from 9 cents a year ago and better than the 2 cents analysts expected. Revenue was $170.4 million, up from $78 million last year.

Often when these things happen the reason is some bad news hidden in the financial camouflage of accounting.

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Shares of semiconductor equipment maker Amtech Systems (ASYS Quote) ran up an additional 55 cents, or 3.8%, to 14.80 this evening. The company announced last Wednesday that it secured a new $6.4 million equipment order, signaling its entry into the fiber-optic telecommunications equipment market.

10 most active stocks on Instinet (6:30 p.m. EDT)
Company	Price	Change	Session Volume
Cisco (CSCO Quote)	65.5156	-0.0156	171,487
Mallinckrodt (MKG Quote)	45.625	-0.50	131,000
Intel (INTC Quote)	72.4375	+0.375	87,056
Evoke (EVOK Quote)	7.625	+0.5312	64,700
Microsoft (MSFT Quote)	70.75	+0.125	57,600
MicroStrategy (MSTR Quote)	29.6406	+0.0781	45,100
Sun Micro Systems (SUNW Quote)	122.125	+0.0625	38,000
WorldCom (WCOM Quote)	34.9375	-0.1875	38,000
Cytogen (CYTO Quote)	7.375	+0.3125	37,900
VoiceStream (VSTR Quote)	112	-1.625	37,800

This information is provided by Instinet, a wholly owned subsidiary of Reuters (RTRSY Quote). For further information, please contact Instinet at www.instinet.com.

10 most active stocks on Island ECN (8 p.m. EDT)
Company	Price	Change	Session Volume
Cytogen (CYTO Quote)	7.40	+0.3375	171,554
Evoke (EVOK Quote)	7.625	+0.5313	158,778
MicroStrategy (MSTR Quote)	30	+0.4375	131,828
Nvidia (NVDA Quote)	74.25	-3.9375	85,296
Cisco (CSCO Quote)	65.74	-0.26	47,178
Mercator Software (MCTR Quote)	16.75	-0.0625	36,369
Intel (INTC Quote)	72.23	+0.1719	32,470
Citrix Systems (CTXS Quote)	22.75	+0.125	25,632
BroadVision (BVSN Quote)	32	+0.3125	23,128
Amtech Systems (ASYS Quote)	14.80	+0.55	22,159

Island ECN, owned by Datek Online, offers trading, mainly in Nasdaq-listed stocks, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. EDT.

Confused? TheStreet.com explains how the rules change when the sun goes down in Investing Basics: Night Owl, a section devoted to after-hours trading.