The Night Watch: Immersion Erupts With Huge Gain on Newspaper Mention

(Updated from 6:56 p.m. EDT)

As the sun set over Wall Street's skyline, stargazing investors packed some heat into the last after-hours session in August, with technology issues among the most actively traded stocks.

While giants JDS Uniphase (JDSU Quote) and Cisco (CSCO Quote) were among the most actively traded issues on Instinet, a lesser known tech concern, Immersion (IMMR Quote), emerged as the platform's biggest gainer.

On paper-thin volume, Immersion (IMMR Quote) -- which manufactures hardware and software technologies that let users interact with computers using the sense of touch -- rallied $12.13, or 70.8%, to $29.25. Immersion ended the regular session higher by 75 cents, or 4.6%, to $17.13.

Although the company did not release any news, an article in today's New York Times plugged the software developer, saying that "just about everybody" uses Immersion's TouchSense technology.

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Day or night, a profit warning is not good for a company's stock price. Tonight, Viant (VIAN Quote) is the latest victim of that preannouncement fate.

After the close Thursday, the Internet consulting firm warned that it expects to report a loss for the third quarter of 2000. The company attributed the revenue shortfall to the perception that "many Global 2000 companies have slowed down their e-business initiatives and have taken the opportunity to step back and revisit their strategies."

Wall Street had expected Viant to come in at 8 cents a share. The company expects revenue for the third quarter to fall about 12% to 15% below the $38.5 million revenue figure reported for the second quarter. In the third quarter of 1999, Viant reported revenue of $18.8 million and net income of 3 cents a share. Viant shares tumbled $3.19 to $10 in after-hours Island trading and plunged $3.94 to $9.94 on Instinet. They ended the regular session down 63 cents to $13.88. (TSC covered Viant's news in a separate story.)

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On the upside, investors in extended hours trading raised their mugs for Starbucks' (SBUX Quote) same-store sales results. Actively trading on Instinet, the high-end coffee merchant bounced to $37.38 from its $36.63 close, with 70,000 shares of the cappuccino king changing hands.

This morning, Starbucks announced that same-store sales rose 10% during the four-week period ended Aug. 27, compared with the year-ago period. The company reported revenue of $183 million for the last month, an increase of 35% from that time last year.

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Rocking the Island ECN tonight were shares of biotechnology firm Ecogen (EECN Quote) -- 575,774 of them are already in play. Today, the company -- which markets environmental products for pest control -- announced that one of its products was chosen by Pharmacia (PHA Quote) unit Monsanto to be the active ingredient in its new insect resistant cotton.

Upon approval by the government and Monsanto, revenue produced by Monsanto from the cotton would be subject to commercialization fees due Ecogen, according to a 1996 agreement between the two companies. (Read: Big bucks for Ecogen.) Ecogen shares gained 15 cents to $1.03.

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After-hours investors tonight were hooked on Symphonix Devices (SMPX Quote). Today, the Food and Drug Administration approved Symphonix's surgically implanted hearing device for adults with moderate to severe hearing loss.

On Island tonight, 414,465 shares of the medical device manufacturer came in loud and clear. Symphonix swelled to a melodious $6.75 from its closing price of $5.16.

10 most active stocks on Instinet (6:30 p.m. EDT)
Company	Price	Change	Session Volume
Clear Channel Communications (CCU Quote)	72	-0.375	388,009
JDS Uniphase (JDSU Quote)	124	-0.484	223,100
Cisco (CSCO Quote)	68.50	-0.125	215,641
Intel (INTC Quote)	74.625	-0.25	205,136
Dell (DELL Quote)	43.75	+0.125	139,635
Oracle (ORCL Quote)	90.88	-0.0625	119,400
Microsoft (MSFT Quote)	69.94	+0.125	109,204
Atmel (ATML Quote)	21.02	+1.0156	93,924
Level 3 Communications (LVLT Quote)	87.25	+0.0156	89,144
Viant (VIAN Quote)	9.94	-3.9375	77,400

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
Ecogen (EECN Quote)	1.03	+0.15	630,864
Symphonix Devices (SMPX Quote)	6.75	+1.59	414,465
Viant (VIAN Quote)	10	-3.19	276,664
Atmel ( ATML Quote)	20.94	+0.94	115,862
Qiao Xing Universal Telephone (XING Quote)	20.38	+0.007	74,616
Fusion Networks Holdings (FUSN Quote)	1.10	+0.06	69,200
Beyond.com (BYND Quote)	1.26	+0.09	61,050
American International Petroleum (AIPN Quote)	0.56	+0.003	57,765
Convergent Group (CVGP Quote)	5.75	-0.31	35,598
Cisco Systems (CSCO Quote)	68.50	-0.06	33,784

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.