Centocor Warns of Severe Earnings Shortfall

Is technology really back? A few late-night morsels to chew on while you ponder that question (earnings estimates from First Call):

Centocor (CNTO - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) warned that it will earn just 20 cents for the year, widely missing the 19-analyst consensus of 52 cents a share. The company has already earned 18 of those 20 cents. The fourth-quarter consensus was for 34 cents a share. Investors had expected an international distribution agreement for its Crohn's disease and rheumatoid arthritis drug Avakine, which the company now says will happen some time next year. (See today's TSC story on Centocor for more details.)

In Japan, the government is expected to unveil a third economic fiscal stimulus package that could include a batch of tax cuts, according to Reuters. Ahead of the package news, Tokyo stocks edged lower. The Nikkei was down about 1% at 15,800 in early morning trading.

Microsoft (PRD - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) said it asked an appeals court to swiftly overturn a lower court verdict that would place certain restrictions on the software giant's sales practices.

Polaroid (PRD - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) will cut about 10% of its workforce -- 1,500 jobs -- sell manufacturing plants in Massachusetts, and take a fourth quarter pre-tax charge of $310 million. Chemical manufacturing operations in Freetown, Mass., are being sold to International Specialty Products (ISP - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) for an undisclosed sum. Polaroid said the streamlining will take about 18 months and generate annual savings of $110 million.

Great Atlantic & Pacific (GAP - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) announced third-quarter earnings of 29 cents a share, missing the eight-analyst consensus of 32 cents.

Schwab (SCH - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) will launch a new brokerage technology platform on Jan 15, charging $29.95 per phone, branch, or online trade.

Hart-Hanks Communications (HHS - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) doubled its buyback plan, authorizing the repurchase of another 2 million shares, about 5% of the total shares outstanding. To date, the company has bought back 1.6 million shares.

Pharmaceutical Product Development (PPDI - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) said it expects fourth-quarter earnings to be 14 cents to 16 cents a share. The eight-analyst consensus called for 20 cents a share. In a statement, Chief Cxecutive Fred Eshelman attributed the results to "previously discussed weakness in new business development at the time of the APBI merger, combined with the backlog adjustments related to the merger." The company merged with Applied Bioscience in Sept. 1996.

Chrysalis International (CRLS - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) said its fourth-quarter results could be hurt by a client's delay of a clinical trial. The drug development services company said the bulk of the impact from the delay will be in the first quarter of 1998.

Yellow (YELL - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) approved the buyback of up to $25 million of its $28.5 million of outstanding stock.

Intelligent Electronics (INEL - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) announced first-quarter earnings of 49 cents a share, beating the nine-analyst consensus by a penny and more than doubling last year's first quarter results of 24 cents a share.

Burlington Resources (BR - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) budgeted $1.15 billion for exploration and development in 1998, its largest amount ever. The driller is "aggressively increasing" exploration spending in Algeria, the Gulf of Mexico and Venezuela.

Macdermid (MACD - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) said it expects third-quarter earnings to be in the range of forecasts. The two-analyst consensus is for 89 cents a share, compared with 63 cents for last year's third quarter.

Fair, Isaac (FIC - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) said it expects first-quarter earnings to roughly match last year's, when it earned 33 cents a share. That would miss the seven-analyst consensus of 41 cents a share.

Moscom (MSCM - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) adopted a shareholder rights plan for beneficial owners of 15% or more of the its stock. The company says the plan isn't linked to any takeover activity or inquiries.