The Night Watch: The Song Remains the Same -- Warnings Call the Tune for After-Hours Action
04/03/01 - 07:03 PM EDT
Yi Ping Ho
Updated from 5:52 p.m. EDT
Like a broken record, companies sang the same warnings tune that sent their stocks dancing that downward dance during today's regular session. Following its software brethren, Rational Software (RATL Quote - Cramer on RATL - Stock Picks) was being punished after the company guided down its 2002 forecast, blaming its shortfall on the "current economic outlook." Rational, which makes object-based software eliminating the need to write line by line, also said this evening it would hand out those dreaded pink slips to about 400 workers, or 10% of its workforce. On Instinet, the shares dropped 12.4% to $12.20 while on Island ECN, the other after-hours trading platform, they fell 12.1% to $12.25. Rational, which is based in Cupertino, Calif., said it expects 2002 earnings of 50 cents to 60 cents a share, down from 72 cents a share in the year-ago period. This estimate sharply misses the consensus figure provided by Thomson Financial/First Call, which calls for 2002 earnings of 86 cents a share. The company also gave a guided range of 20 to 22 cents a share for its first-quarter earnings, compared with the 22 cents a share estimate by the Street.Beaten-down Agile Software (AGIL Quote - Cramer on AGIL - Stock Picks) wasn't too chipper either. The shares, which were tortured after Ariba (ARBA Quote - Cramer on ARBA - Stock Picks) said last night it was scrapping its merger pact, got no rest, recently falling 4.8% to $9.81 on Instinet after the company said it would miss analysts' fourth-quarter earnings estimates of 2 cents a share. Agile projected a loss of 3 to 6 cents a share before acquisition-related costs, amortization and other intangibles. The company also said it would take a one-time charge of about $5 million in connection with the termination of its merger with Ariba. "We are mindful that in the last few months economic conditions have declined very rapidly and that many IT companies were not able to close expected business in the last month of their quarter which negatively impacted their results. There can be no assurance that the same thing won't happen to Agile," the company said in its statement. Shares of Ariba lately traded up 0.3% to $4.45 on Island.
But by and large, today's widespread selloff eased as after-hour players did some salvaging amid the rubble. Global Crossing (GX Quote - Cramer on GX - Stock Picks) was one winner tonight, gaining 23.8% to $12.50 on Instinet after today's rather bullish statement from Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown. The firm, while cutting its earnings forecast on the company, said it believes Global Crossing "is the best, if not the only stock to own in emerging telecom," and maintained its strong buy rating on the stock. Some blue tech bellwethers, which bottomed to new 52-week lows during the day, got a bounce as bargain hunters went hunting. Sun Microsystems (SUNW Quote - Cramer on SUNW - Stock Picks) recently gained 0.5% to $14.15 on Instinet, recovering slightly from its day's new 52-week low of $13.74. Likewise, Oracle (ORCL Quote - Cramer on ORCL - Stock Picks), which scraped $13.15 during today's carnage, was up 1.4% to $13.44. Looking ahead to tomorrow, the S&P 500 futures on Globex were down 5.3 points to 1104.5, about 9.7 points below fair value, indicating a weakish open for the broader market tomorrow. The Nasdaq 100 futures were off 13.5 points to 1399, about 14.5 points below fair value, suggesting slight downward pressure for the Nasdaq tomorrow.
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| 10 most active stocks on Instinet (6:30 p.m. EDT) | |||
| Company | Price | Change | Session Volume |
| Rational Software (RATL Quote - Cramer on RATL - Stock Picks) | 12.20 | -1.73 | 380,551 |
| Nasdaq 100 (QQQ Quote - Cramer on QQQ - Stock Picks) | 34.50 | -0.16 | 289,900 |
| Exodus Communications (EXDS Quote - Cramer on EXDS - Stock Picks) | 7.31 | +0.09 | 250,000 |
| Sun Microsystems (SUNW Quote - Cramer on SUNW - Stock Picks) | 14.15 | +0.07 | 215,154 |
| Intel (INTC Quote - Cramer on INTC - Stock Picks) | 24.75 | -0.25 | 213,186 |
| Cisco Systems (CSCO Quote - Cramer on CSCO - Stock Picks) | -- | -- | 192,541 |
| Ciena (CIEN Quote - Cramer on CIEN - Stock Picks) | 35.63 | -0.06 | 180,349 |
| Microsoft (MSFT Quote - Cramer on MSFT - Stock Picks) | 53.75 | +0.38 | 178,147 |
| Oracle (ORCL Quote - Cramer on ORCL - Stock Picks) | 13.44 | +0.19 | 174,700 |
| WorldCom (WCOM Quote - Cramer on WCOM - Stock Picks) | 17.89 | -0.05 | 149,078 |
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| 10 most active stocks on Island ECN (8:00 p.m. EDT) | |||
| Company | Price | Change | Session Volume |
| Nasdaq 100 (QQQ Quote - Cramer on QQQ - Stock Picks) | 34.44 | N/A | 169,805 |
| Rational Software (RATL Quote - Cramer on RATL - Stock Picks) | 12.25 | -1.69 | 132,007 |
| Cisco (CSCO Quote - Cramer on CSCO - Stock Picks) | 13.63 | -0.13 | 129,265 |
| Ariba (ARBA Quote - Cramer on ARBA - Stock Picks) | 4.45 | +0.01 | 111,524 |
| Agile Software (AGIL Quote - Cramer on AGIL - Stock Picks) | 9.40 | -0.90 | 82,229 |
| S&P 500 Composite Index ( SPY Quote - Cramer on SPY - Stock Picks) | 110.05 | N/A | 81,781 |
| JDS Uniphase (JDSU Quote - Cramer on JDSU - Stock Picks) | 14.13 | +0.06 | 64,494 |
| MarchFIRST(MRCH Quote - Cramer on MRCH - Stock Picks) | 0.06 | -0.02 | 63,071 |
| Ciena(CIEN Quote - Cramer on CIEN - Stock Picks) | 35.63 | -0.06 | 58,070 |
| WinStar Communications (WCII Quote - Cramer on WCII - Stock Picks) | 0.34 | +0.03 | 51,437 |
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