Update: Informix Plummets After Earnings Warning

Shares in Informix (IFMX) lost over a third of their value Monday after the company warned its second-quarter earnings would be sharply lower than Wall Street's expectations.

Informix, a provider of database software, said its earnings would fall to between a penny and 3 cents a share, 75% to 92%, below the 12 cents a share that a consensus of Wall Street analysts were expecting in the quarter, according to First Call/Thomson Financial. Informix earned 6 cents a share in last year's second quarter.

The price of Informix shares fell dramatically. Investors shaved 38.24% off the company's market value, as shares traded at 4 19/32, down 2 27/32, as the abbreviated trading day neared the close. (Informix finished down 2 3/4, or 36.97%, at 4 11/16.)

The Menlo Park, Calif.-based company said its revenues would in the quarter total $240 million to $250 million, compared with $250.6 million in the year-earlier quarter.

The strength of the dollar weighed on European sales, according to the company.

Informix also said the company's acquisition of Ardent Software, a deal completed March 1, would not add to earnings in fiscal 2000 as previously thought.

The company is scheduled to report its second-quarter results on July 19.

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