The Night Watch: Earnings and Warnings Make After-Hours Session Particularly Juicy

Updated from 6:46 p.m. EST

Forget about those dinner plans.

Tonight's postclose trading session -- packed with earnings news from the PC, B2B, semiconductor and Internet sectors and twists and turns in stock prices -- is a must-see event.

After the closing bell, Hewlett-Packard (HWP Quote - Cramer on HWP - Stock Picks) cautioned that it would miss first-quarter estimates, citing worsening economic conditions and "a deceleration in corporate and consumer information technology spending."

The news sent H-P's stock lower, although not significantly, on the night watch. It fell 5% to $30.75 on Instinet, an electronic trading platform. The PC and hardware giant now expects to earn 35 cents to 40 cents a share in the first quarter, compared with 40 cents a share a year ago. According to First Call/Thomson Financial, analysts had expected Hewlett-Packard to earn 42 cents a share for the quarter.

The company also said it believes "conservative growth assumptions are appropriate near-term" and gave revenue growth guidance for 2001 "in the low- to mid-single digits." H-P also said it wasn't expecting to see improvement during the first half of its fiscal year. For the first quarter, Wall Street forecasts revenue of $13.2 billion, up from $11.7 billion a year ago.

Just minutes after Hewlett-Packard's profit warning, Gateway (GTW Quote - Cramer on GTW - Stock Picks) reported fourth-quarter results that badly missed reduced fourth-quarter earnings estimates and cut its projections for 2001, due to "continued deterioration of worldwide PC demand and increasing pricing pressure." At last look, shares of Gateway were ailing -- down 13.8% to $19.75 on Instinet.

The boxmaker said it earned (excluding items) 12 cents a share, compared with 38 cents a share a year ago. Analysts, on average, were expecting fourth-quarter earnings of 37 cents a share. Including a $187 million pretax charge, Gateway reported a fourth-quarter loss of $94.3 million, or 29 cents a share. The PC manufacturer already issued a fourth-quarter warning late in November, taking analysts' forecasts down to the current 37 cents from 62 cents.

Shares of other PC stocks fell in sympathy with Hewlett-Packard and Gateway. Dell (DELL Quote - Cramer on DELL - Stock Picks) -- a volume mover tonight -- dropped 4.5% to $21.80 on Instinet and fell 4.1% to $21.88 on Island.

Tonight's losses in the PC sector have been coupled with injuries in the B2B group. Earlier this evening, Ariba (ARBA Quote - Cramer on ARBA - Stock Picks) posted first-quarter earnings and revenue results that topped Wall Street's expectations, but issued forward guidance that includes slower-than expected revenue growth. Shares of Ariba, which tanked as much as 9% on Island, then gained back ground to be down 4% to $41.63 on Instinet and off 6.2% to $40.69 on Island, were lately behind only 1.1% to $42.89 on Instinet and lower just 0.9% to $43 on Island.

Ariba reported earnings of 5 cents a share, compared to analysts' expectations of a 2-cent result. A year earlier, the company posted a loss of 4 cents per share. The firm posted revenue of $170.2 million, vs. Wall Street's revenue target of $157 million. (TheStreet.com took a closer look at Ariba's earnings in a separate story.) The B2B firm expects revenue for the second quarter to come in the range of $180 million to $185 million -- which is only 6% better than this quarter. Investors, who are used to better sequential revenue growth, didn't love that news. But the company's stock recovered after a positive conference call.

Other B2B stocks seeing action tonight include Commerce One (CMRC Quote - Cramer on CMRC - Stock Picks) -- off 2.2% to $24.14 on Instinet and down 2.2% to $24.15 on Island.

Take a deep breath -- there's more. Shares of Rambus (RMBS Quote - Cramer on RMBS - Stock Picks) -- which reported results tonight -- dropped 8% to $45 on Island.

During tonight's extended trading session, Rambus posted first quarter earnings of 12 cents share, a penny below analysts' expectations. The chipmaker earned 2 cents a share in the year-ago quarter. Rambus added that revenue was $34.7 million, near the $35 million Wall Street target. That compares with revenue of $26.0 million in the fiscal fourth quarter and $11.9 million a year ago.

But while savvy investors may be willing to let bygones be bygones, they are not so easily prepared to shake off warnings about the future. Rambus, which attributed part of its revenue to royalties on SDRAM-compatible chips, faces a decrease in price for SDRAM-compatible chips that may spell trouble for the company's revenue in its upcoming quarter. TheStreet.com took a closer look at Rambus' earnings in a separate story.

Elsewhere in the semiconductor sector, Intel (INTC Quote - Cramer on INTC - Stock Picks) lowered 1.9% to $32.75 on Instinet and shed 1.5% to $32.88 on Island.

Not every company with news tonight suffered. The shining light: DoubleClick (DCLK Quote - Cramer on DCLK - Stock Picks), which surged 15.6% to $13 on Instinet and boosted 12.8% to $12.69 on Island.

Despite a tough advertising environment, the online advertiser reported fourth-quarter results that beat analysts' projections. DoubleClick broke even on a per share basis for the fourth quarter (excluding amortization, compensation and other costs). Analysts had expected a loss of 2 cents a share for the quarter.

Going forward, the company cautioned that it will post a larger than expected loss in the first quarter of 2001. But postclose patrons did not seem to mind. DoubleClick projected a loss of 7 cents to 9 cents a share for the first quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of a 6-cent result and a year-ago loss of 11 cents.

10 most active stocks on Instinet (6:30 p.m. EST)
Company	Price	Change	Session Volume
Ariba (ARBA Quote - Cramer on ARBA - Stock Picks)	42.89	-0.48	2,674,919
Sun Microsystems (SUNW Quote - Cramer on SUNW - Stock Picks)	37.38	-0.56	560,434
Dell Computer (DELL Quote - Cramer on DELL - Stock Picks)	21.79	-1.02	557,430
Intel (INTC Quote - Cramer on INTC - Stock Picks)	32.75	-0.63	464,627
Cisco Systems ( CSCO Quote - Cramer on CSCO - Stock Picks)	38.38	-0.75	395,700
Hewlett-Packard (HWP Quote - Cramer on HWP - Stock Picks)	30.75	-1.63	379,526
Yahoo! (YHOO Quote - Cramer on YHOO - Stock Picks)	26.42	-0.55	344,137
Microsoft (MSFT Quote - Cramer on MSFT - Stock Picks)	54.25	-0.75	319,996
Efficient Networks (EFNT Quote - Cramer on EFNT - Stock Picks)	13.69	--	310,400
Commerce One (CMRC Quote - Cramer on CMRC - Stock Picks)	24.14	-0.55	295,300

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

10 most active stocks on Island ECN (8:00 p.m. EST)
Company	Price	Change	Session Volume
Ariba (ARBA Quote - Cramer on ARBA - Stock Picks)	43	-0.38	2,694,590
DoubleClick (DCLK Quote - Cramer on DCLK - Stock Picks)	12.69	+1.44	383,259
Nasdaq 100 (QQQ Quote - Cramer on QQQ - Stock Picks)	62.13	N/A	359,400
Commerce One (CMRC Quote - Cramer on CMRC - Stock Picks)	24.15	-0.54	283,305
Rambus (RMBS Quote - Cramer on RMBS - Stock Picks)	45	-3.89	278,029
Dell Computer ( DELL Quote - Cramer on DELL - Stock Picks)	21.88	-0.94	167,425
Cisco Systems (CSCO Quote - Cramer on CSCO - Stock Picks)	38.20	-0.93	151,526
PSINet (PSIX Quote - Cramer on PSIX - Stock Picks)	2.40	+0.03	131,984
Yahoo! (YHOO Quote - Cramer on YHOO - Stock Picks)	26.38	+0.50	105,918
Juniper Networks (JNPR Quote - Cramer on JNPR - Stock Picks)	131.25	-1.06	104,021

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

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.