Early Tech Stocks in Motion
Research in Motion
( RIMM) surged in premarket trading after setting terms of a settlement that will permit it to continue developing and selling its BlackBerry communicator. RIM will pay technology shop NTP $450 million for the "unfettered right" to sell and sublicense the technology, which had been the subject of a patent lawsuit. The agreement should resolve a major threat to RIM's share price. The stock was recently trading at $79.37 on Instinet, up $12.28, or 18.3%.
Software company
Opnet
(OPNT) - Get Report
rose sharply in late trading Tuesday after disclosing a worldwide distribution agreement with
Cisco
(CSCO) - Get Report
. The networking giant agreed to a "multiyear" pact under which it will resell Opnet's management software with its hardware and work with the company to develop new network management products. Opnet said the agreement represents its "first significant indirect sales channel."
Microvision
(MVIS) - Get Report
said its fourth-quarter loss swelled 53% from a year ago to $8.0 million, or 38 cents a share, but still came in better than the mean estimate from analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial forecast. Revenue slipped to $3.3 million from $4.0 million a year ago. Two analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call were forecasting a loss of 4 cents a share on sales of $3.7 million. The company also said it expects to post first quarter revenue of more than $4.2 million. The consensus estimate is $5.0 million.
Sohu.com
(SOHU) - Get Report
said Tuesday it will delay the filing of its annual 10-K with the
Securities and Exchange Commission
as it works to comply with rules promulgated under Sarbanes-Oxley. The Chinese Web portal stressed that it has identified no material adjustments the unaudited fourth-quarter results it reported Dec. 31 and no material weakness in financial controls. Sohu expects to be able to file the 10-K by March 31 and then use a 45-day extension to file management's report on the company's internal controls.
Sigma Designs
(SIGM)
swung to a loss of $17,000, or breakeven on a per-share basis, in its fourth quarter, compared with net income of $297,000, or 1 cent a share, last year. Revenue rose 3% from a year ago to $7.9 million. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call were forecasting breakeven earnings on sales of $7.3 million. Sigma said revenue rose mostly because of higher sles of its EM8620 Windows Media 9 media processors, while the loss reflected additional costs for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.