Company Report: MOT, NOK, CHA, BFO, LSI, CSCO, ANF
Motorola (MOT) plummeted 17 9/16, or 16.8%, to 86 15/16 after Salomon Smith Barney cut its rating on to outperform from buy and lowered its target to 120 from 200. Motorola
Salomon cut its earnings estimates from $3.20 to $3.10 for 2000 and to $4.12 from $4.25 for 2001. Salomon said though its long-term positive outlook on Motorola is unchanged, it believes the assumptions behind its more optimistic view may not materialize. It also mentioned that the "loss of a major customer to
Nortel
(NT)
suggests better-than-expected results are unlikely in 2000." Nortel fell 2 59/64, or 5.5%, to 50 1/4.
For more on this
story, see coverage from
TheStreet.com/NYTimes.com's
joint newsroom.
Other wireless stocks were also down in the dumps.
Nokia
(NOK) - Get Free Report
fell 4 7/16, or 8.2%, to 49 7/16, while
Ericsson
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dropped 1 13/16, or 8.7%, to 19.
(
Earnings estimates from First Call/Thomson Financial; earnings reported on a diluted basis unless otherwise specified. New highs and lows on a closing basis unless otherwise specified.
)
Mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures
Paper company
Champion International
(CHA) - Get Free Report
said it received a takeover offer from
International Paper
(IP) - Get Free Report
that values Champion at $75 a share.
ABN Amro
sliced its rating on Champion to hold from buy.
The offer poses a threat to Champion's merger plans with Finland's
UPM-Kymmene
undefined
. Champion said it believed International Paper's bid is better than UPM-Kymmene's, currently valued at $70 a share in cash. Champion popped 6 1/16, or 9.2%, to 72 3/8, International Paper slipped 7/16 to 36 13/16 and UPM-Kymmene added 1 7/8, or 6.6%, to 30 1/4.
UPM-Kymmene's CEO said consideration of a new bid is underway and said a Champion purchase would be funded with loans, and later with cash flow and asset sales. UPM-Kymmene also added that Champion was not the only North American company it was interested in.
For more on this
story, see coverage from
TheStreet.com/NYTimes.com's
joint newsroom.
Bestfoods
(BFO) - Get Free Report
gained 2 1/4 to 65 3/4. According to published reports , the company is on the lookout for possible merger partners after last week rejecting
Unilever's
(UN) - Get Free Report
unsolicited $18.4 billion offer.
Separately, Unilever reported that first-quarter earnings before exceptional items rose 16% using constant exchange rates.
For more on Unilever's
earnings, see coverage from
TheStreet.com/NYTimes.com's
joint newsroom.
Lucent
(LU) - Get Free Report
lost 2 5/16 to 55 after it and Swedish company
Telia
said they signed a system supply deal worth $200 million over three years.
LSI Logic
(LSI) - Get Free Report
lost 6 1/16, or 12.2%, to 43 1/2 after it said it plans to enhance its storage area network product offerings by acquiring
CacheWare's
Ark Research assets for $23 million.
Earnings/revenue reports and previews
Cisco
(CSCO) - Get Free Report
fell 4 1/4, or 6.8%, to 58 1/2 after it reported third-quarter earnings of 14 cents a share after yesterday's close, edging out the 31-analyst estimate by a penny and up from the year-ago 9-cent profit. The data networking-equipment maker posted sales of $4.92 billion, a 55% increase from the third-quarter 1999's $3.17 billion report.
Cisco announced today it will buy new manufacturing facility in Salem, N.H.
Credit Suisse First Boston
analyst James Parmelee initiated coverage of Cisco with a strong buy rating and a 12-month price target of 85.
Merrill Lynch
analyst Michael Ching today raised his estimates on Cisco. Estimates for 2000 were lifted to 53 cents from 51 cents and 2001 EPS estimates were raised to 70 cents from 66 cents. Revenue estimates for 2000 were raised to $18.6 billion from $18 billion and 2001 revenue estimates to $26.5 billion from $24.3 billion.
UBS Warburg
lifted Cisco's price target to 85 from 82, and its 2000 earnings outlook to 53 cents from 51 cents.
For more on Cisco's earnings, take a look at
coverage from the
TheStreet.com/NYTimes.com's
joint newsroom.
Abercrombie & Fitch
(ANF) - Get Free Report
lost 7/8, or 8.1%, to 10 after it posted first-quarter earnings of 16 cents a share, in line with the 22-analyst estimate and up from the year-ago 14 cent-profit. However, the clothing retailer warned that it would report second-quarter earnings between 16 cents and 18 cents a share, falling below the 21-analyst estimate of 21 cents a share.
CSFB analyst Richard Baum downgraded Abercrombie & Fitch to a hold from a buy.
Merrill Lynch
cut Abercrombie to near-term neutral, long-term accumulate.
J.P. Morgan
cut the stock to market performer from buy.
Circle International
(CRCL)
lost 1/2 to 26 3/8 after it reported first-quarter earnings of 18 cents a share, in line with the eight-analyst estimate and up from the year-ago 11 cents a share.
Imax
(IMAX) - Get Free Report
inched up 1/8 to 21 1/16 after it reported first-quarter earnings of 10 cents a share, in line with the four-analyst estimate, and up from the year-ago 7 cents which includes items.
McDonald's
(MCD) - Get Free Report
moved up 1 5/8 to 38 5/8 after it said sales through the first four month were $12.87 billion, up 9% from a year ago, after foreign currency changes are factored out. Including the currency changes, sales were up 7%.
Payless Shoesource
(PSS)
fell 1 1/4 to 54 1/8 after it reported first-quarter earnings of $1.19 a share, in line with the seven-analyst estimate and up from the year-ago $1.09 a share.
Sunbeam
(SOC)
slipped 1/8 to 3 3/8 after it reported a first-quarter loss of 55 cents, beating the 2-analyst estimate by two cents and less than the year-ago-loss of 60 cents.
Trammell Crow
(TCC)
lost 7/16 to 12 9/16 after it reported first-quarter earnings of 10 cents a share, in line with the six-analyst estimate, but down from the year-ago 20 cents a share.
Meanwhile, the commercial real estate services company announced it was forming a strategic alliance with
Savills
, a British property consulting group, to form a new company that will provide real estate outsourcing services throughout the European Union.
Reuters
reported that Trammell Crow will buy a 10% stake in Savills for $21.7 million from Hong Kong conglomerate
First Pacific
.
Vishay Intertechnology's
(VSH) - Get Free Report
dropped 2 1/2 to 71 despite news from that it expects second-quarter earnings-per-share to exceed analyst estimates by 20%. The company develops manufactures and markets passive electronic components.
XL Capital
(XL) - Get Free Report
fell 3 5/8, or 7,1%, to 47 5/8 after it posted first-quarter earnings of $1.19 a share, in line with the 10-analyst estimate and up from the year-ago $1.09 a share. The company said it sees results for the year 5% below its annualized first-quarter earnings.
Offerings and stock actions
Bel Fuse
(BELFA) - Get Free Report
gained 1 1/2, or 8.1%, to 20 after its board authorized the repurchase of up to 10% of its outstanding shares.
UBS Ag
, Switzerland's largest banking group, said its shares will begin trading on the
next Tuesday, under the symbol UBS.
Analyst actions
Upgrades
Tandy
(TAN) - Get Free Report
: rated a near-term buy and added to the Focus list at
Merrill Lynch
. Tandy advanced 2 to 47 3/4.
Downgrades
Activision
(ATVI) - Get Free Report
: DOWN to neutral from buy at
U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray
, price target lowered to 8 from 14.
Finova
(FNV) - Get Free Report
: DOWN to speculative neutral from speculative outperform at Salomon Smith Barney. Finova lost 5/8, or 6.9%, to 8 1/2.
Jacobs Engineering
(JEC) - Get Free Report
: DOWN to hold from buy at First Boston by analyst Charles Brady. Jacobs Engineering fell 9/16 to 31 1/8.
Initiations
HealthStream
(HSTM) - Get Free Report
: NEW buy rating at
Robertson Stephens
. HealthStream gained 1/2, or 6.7%, to 8.
Merix
(MERX)
: NEW strong buy at
Thomas Weisel
, six-month price target of 34. Merix shed 5/16 to 25 11/16.
webMethods
(WEBM)
: NEW buy at Thomas Weisel. webMethods declined 6 1/4, or 7.6%, to 75 3/4.
Group Moves
Lehman Brothers
said it selectively downgraded several steel producers to emphasize low cost producers as demand growth pulls back. The companies included
AK Steel
(AKS) - Get Free Report
,
National Steel
(NS) - Get Free Report
,
Bethlehem Steel
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and
WHX
undefined
.
AK Steel dropped 9/16 to 10 7/8; National Steel slipped 1/2, or 8.7%, to 5 1/4; Bethlehem Steel sank 3/16 to 4 7/16; WHX lost 1/4 to 6 13/16.
AK Steel and National Steel were lowered to outperform from buy.
Bethlehem Steel and WHX were cut to neutral from outperform.
Three Wall Street brokerage firms raised their revenue and earnings expectations for
Cisco Systems
(CSCO) - Get Free Report
, a day after the computer networking giant reported stronger-than-expected third quarter profit. Cisco moved down 4 1/4, or 6.8%, to 58 1/2.
Fiscal 2000-02 earnings estimate: UP to 53 cents, 68 cents, 85 cents, respectively, from 51 cents, 64 cents, and 82 cents at UBS Warburg.
Fiscal 2001 revenue estimate: UP to $26.7 billion from $24.2 billion at Lehman Brothers.
Fiscal 2000 and 2001 earnings estimate: UP to 53 cents and 70 cents respectively, from 51 cents and 66 cents at Merrill Lynch.
Merrill Lynch cut auto maker
General Motors
(GM) - Get Free Report
to near-term neutral from accumulate, but raised
Ford
(F) - Get Free Report
to near-term accumulate from neutral. General Motors slid 3 5/32, while Ford fell 13/16 to 52 1/4.
Miscellany
Arrow Electronics
(ARW) - Get Free Report
lost 7/8 to 38 after it said it plans to elect president and COO Francis Scricco as CEO effective July 1.
A number of major music companies are expected to agree to stop a pricing practice on compact disks that discourages discounting by retailers,
The Wall Street Journal
. The agreement is part of a settlement with the
Federal Trade Commission
and is expected to bring lower consumer prices for CDs, the story said.
Time Warner
(TWX)
confirmed it has already settled charges.
Sony
undefined
,
Seagram
(VO) - Get Free Report
unit Universal Music,
BMG Entertainment
and
EMI Group
have now agreed to join the settlement as well. Time Warner lost 2 1/2 to 80 1/4, Sony fell 2 1/8 to 211 1/4 and Seagram fell 2 to 52 3/8.
The
New York Stock Exchange
is in talks with markets in Canada, Latin America and Europe about link-ups in the wake of the
Nasdaq Stock Market's
forays into Asia, Canada and Europe, the
Journal
reported.
The Heard on the Street column in the
Journal
says the nation's securities firms have hit an "earnings pothole" amid a larger market slowdown. Underwriting fees from IPOs are declining while higher interest rates have caused turmoil for Wall Street's bond business. The firms could face earnings declines of up to 20% in the next quarter, the story says. IBM dropped 5 3/8 to 103 5/8.
