i2 Technologies Issues Warning, Sets Job Cuts

i2 Technologies (ITWO Quote - Cramer on ITWO - Stock Picks) said Monday it is lowering its first-quarter earnings forecast and planning to cut 600 jobs, or 10% of its workforce.

For its first quarter ending March 2001, i2 said expects to earn 2 cents a share, down from 6 cents the company forecast on Jan. 18. Forty analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call were estimating, on average, the company would earn 5 cents a share. In the year-ago period, i2 earned 4 cents a share.

i2 said it expects to report first-quarter revenue of $355 million, up from the $186.3 million it posted in the same quarter a year ago. Analysts were expecting revenue of $348.5 million.

The company, an e-business software producer, said it will lay off 600 of its 6,100 employees in a cost containment effort and expects to take an as-yet undisclosed charge in its second quarter.

Shares of i2 were off 38 cents, or 2.6%, to $14.13 in preopen Island trading.