Friday's Winners & Losers: Go.com, King Pharmaceuticals, Crayfish, Extended Systems

Author:: TSC Staff
Publish date:: Jul 14, 2000 6:25 PM EDT

Updated from 3:56 p.m. EDT

Amazon.com

was up 7 1/2, or 21.4%, to 42 1/2 after

Salomon Smith Barney

analyst Tim Albright said he expects the company's third and fourth quarters to be good and reiterated the firm's buy rating, despite recent concerns about its cash flow. Also, he said Amazon will finish its first quarter of 2001 with $667 million in cash and its first quarter of 2002 with $757 million.

Gateway

(GTW)

reported second-quarter earnings of 37 cents, beating the 22-analyst estimate by a penny and up from the year-ago earnings of 28 cents. The company attributed the better-than-expected earnings to strong sales of PCs and PC-related products and services.

TheStreet.com/NYTimes.com's

joint newsroom wrote about the

earnings Thursday. Gateway fell 4 1/8, or 5.9%, to 66 3/8.

Banc of America Securities

downgraded

Gateway

(GTW)

this morning to buy from strong buy, saying the computer maker's stock "isn't cheap" following a pre-earnings run-up. Its price target was raised to 85 from 70, on a stronger anticipated fiscal second half, at

Lehman Brothers

Altera

(ALTR) - Get Report

reported second-quarter earnings of 49 cents a share, beating the 24-analyst estimate of 44 cents and up from year-ago earnings of 25 cents. Its board also set a 2-for-1 stock split. The news helped push the stock up 8 3/8, or 7.5%, to 119 7/16.

Altera's price target was up to 150 from 115 at

Lehman Brothers

and it was raised from 145 from 110 at

Credit Suisse First Boston

Mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures

The

U.S. Court of Appeals

for the District of Columbia said the

Surface Transportation Board

acted properly when they imposed a 15-month moratorium on railroad mergers, which is a setback for the planned $18.5 billion marriage of

Canadian National Railway

(CNI) - Get Report

CNR finished up the day 11/16 to 30 3/4, and

Burlington Northern Santa Fe

(BNI)

finished up 11/16 to 26 15/16.

Bowater

(BOW)

said it would buy the

Newsprint South

paper mill in Grenada, Mississippi from

General Electric's

(GE) - Get Report

Capital Structured Finance Group for $370 million plus $8.9 million in debt. Bowater fell 1 15/16 to 48 3/16 and GE was off 5/16 to 52 3/16.

After

BreezeCOM

(BRZE)

said that it expected second-quarter sales of $24.5 million, more than double year-ago results of $10.3 million, and earnings of $2.5 million, compared with a year-earlier loss of $1.5 million, the stock rose 5 1/2, or 13.6%, to 46. The company gave no details in its forecast.

Celera Genomics

(CRA)

, a source of genomic and related medical information, agreed to provide

Harvard University

with a comprehensive subscription to all four of its databases. Financial terms were not disclosed. Celera was 2 15/16 lower to 92 5/16.

North Fork Bancorp's

(NFB)

chairman announced today that 70% of voting shareholders of

Dime Bancorp

(DME)

had withheld their support for Dime's board of directors. North Fork, which has launched a $1.97 billion hostile bid for Dime, asked shareholders to withhold their votes for five board members up for unopposed election. Because there was no alternate slate, however, those nominees were elected. North Fork was up 3/8 to 17 3/16, and Dime was up 3/16 to 16 1/16.

What is the Matrix?

Southwest Securities

(SWC)

, which slid down 1/8 to 27 3/4, said it plans to buy

Matrix

(MTXC)

in a stock transaction valued at $110 million. Matrix jumped 5 1/4, or a whopping 77.8%, to 12.

Packeteer

(PKTR)

, up 4 7/16, or 12.2%, to 40 15/16, will acquire

Workfire Technologies

for 2 million Packeteer shares. Packeteer said the merger is expected to be tax-free and the parties anticipate accounting for the transaction using the purchase method.

Packeteer provides Internet application infrastructure systems designed to enable businesses and service providers to ensure the quality of experience for networked applications and application services. Workfire specializes in genetic caching technology software to speed Internet data delivery.

Reliance Group

(REL)

and

Leucadia

(LUK)

said Friday morning that they are calling off their planned stock-swap merger worth $293 million. Reliance dropped 11.1%, or 1/16 , to 1/2, while Leucadia was up 5/16 to 24 1/2.

Veritas Software

(VRTS) - Get Report

, a storage management software company, and

Seagate

(SEG)

, the world's biggest disk-drive maker, received antitrust clearance for a $20 billion, two-part transaction through which Seagate will become private via a management buyout and a stock transfer with Veritas. The deal is expected to be completed in September, subject to stockholder approval and completion of other conditions, including a

Securities and Exchange Commission

review. Veritas was up 4 7/16 to 136 13/16. Seagate was up 1 1/2 to 64.

Earnings/revenue reports and previews

Ford

(F) - Get Report

, off 11/16 to 47 1/2, said it will take a special charge of $3.3 billion in its second quarter for the spinoff of parts company

Visteon

(VC) - Get Report

and changes in its European business.

Merrill Lynch

analyst John Casesa said the charge was greater than expected.

Today, Visteon declared a quarterly dividend of 6 cents a share on the company's common stock. The stock was up 1/4 to 15.

Dominion Resources

(D) - Get Report

crept up 5/16 to 47 1/16 after it said second-quarter earnings, excluding items, will meet or slightly exceed expectations. Its

First Call/Thomson Financial

14-analyst estimate is currently 52 cents.

Entergy

(ETR) - Get Report

said it expects its second-quarter earnings to be "significantly" higher than the same period last year and 25% to 30% higher than the 11-analyst estimate of 75 cents. The stock was 5/16 lower to 29 1/8.

Extended Systems

(XTND)

said it expects a fourth-quarter net loss of 9 to 11 cents a diluted share, far below a one-analyst estimate of a 2-cent loss and the year-ago earnings of a penny. It blamed the losses on lower-than-expected European hardware sales. Extended Systems plummeted 37 1/16, or 42.5%, to 50 1/16.

Iomega

(IOM)

posted second-quarter earnings of 15 cents a share, including a gain of 5 cents a share attributable to a decrease in the company's valuation allowance for net deferred tax assets, and a reversal of a restructuring charge of 1 cent a share, far surpassing a two-analyst estimate of 6 cents and a year-ago loss of 7 cents. Iomega was down 1/8 to 4 1/8.

Juniper Networks

(JNPR) - Get Report

, up 5 1/4 to 174 3/4, reported second-quarter earnings of 8 cents a share, doubling the 13-analyst estimate of 4 cents and up from year-ago earnings of 3 cents.

The stock's 12-month price target was raised to 230 from 163 at

ABN Amro

, while its price target was raised to 265 from 180 at

Lehman Brothers

Kellogg

(K) - Get Report

stated that it is comfortable with Street expectations for its second-quarter earnings. The current

First Call

estimate calls for the cereal maker to come in at 41 cents a share. It edged up 3/16 to 29 1/8.

Keynote Systems

(KEYN)

announced fiscal third-quarter earnings of 6 cents a share, far exceeding the four-analyst loss of three cents, marking the first profitable quarter for the provider of Internet performance and consulting services.

According to

First Call/Thomson Financial

, analysts expected a loss of 2 cents for the quarter. In the year-ago quarter, the company lost 36 cents. In spite of the good news, the stock fell 18 1/4, or nearly 22%, to 64 15/16.

Paradyne Networks

(PDYN)

posted second-quarter earnings of 5 cents, falling short of a five-analyst estimate of 9 cents, but beating a year-ago loss of 2 cents. It lost 8 7/8, or 20.6%, falling to 34 1/4.

Polaroid

(PRD)

announced today that it expects double-digit gains in sales and profits from the instant film and camera maker's digital products in 2001. It was up 1/4 to 17 1/2.

Powerwave

(PWAV)

reported second-quarter earnings of 18 cents, which was adjusted for a 3-for-1 split effective May 15. The figure beat the six-analyst estimate of 16 cents and was up from year-ago earnings of 7 cents.

Even though the stock beat estimates, a downgrade to buy from strong buy at

U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffrey

helped sink the stock 9 9/16, or 18.5%, to 42 1/4.

Vitesse Semiconductor

(VTSS)

reported third-quarter earnings of 17 cents a share, in line with the 18-analyst estimate and up from the year-ago earnings of 8 cents, which included acquisition-related costs. Still, Vitesse dropped 11 1/8, or 12.8%, to 75 9/16.

Online grocer

Webvan

(WBVN)

fell 1 17/32, or 16.4%, to 7 25/32 after it reported a wider-than-expected second-quarter loss of 17 cents a share. The company was expected to report a loss of 16 cents, according to a 12-analyst estimate compiled by

First Call/Thomson Financial

In the year-ago quarter, Webvan lost 12 cents a share. However, the company's revenue surged during the quarter to $28.3 million from $16.3 million in the year-ago quarter.

TheStreet.com/NYTimes.com

wrote about the company's earnings.

TSC's

own

Adam Lashinsky

has also been covering the company and its recent doings, including

its recent decision to purchase rival

HomeGrocer

(HOMG)

Analyst actions

J.P. Morgan

(JPM) - Get Report

got a boost from its report of better-than-expected second-quarter earnings. Today,

Merrill Lynch

raised its rating on the company to near-term buy from near-term accumulate and

CIBC

raised it up to buy from hold with a price target of 165. The stock finished the day up 4 9/16 to 128 11/16.

Upgrades

Allegheny Energy

(AYE)

: UP to buy list from market performer at

Goldman Sachs

; 2001 earnings estimates UP to $3.20 from $3.15 a share. It was up 15/16 to 29 3/8.

BJ Services

(BJS)

: UP to strong buy from buy at

UBS Warburg

. The stock crept up 9/16 to 65 15/16.

Brocade

(BRCD)

was up 7/16 to 205 15/16 after its price target was raised to 250 from 175 at

Bear Stearns

Flextronics

(FLEX) - Get Report

: price target UP to 120 from 100 at

Banc of America

. It finished up 4 1/8, or 5.2%, to 83 3/4.

Mercury Interactive

(MERQ)

: Price target UP to 150 from 130 at

Merrill Lynch

. Mercury fell 13 11/16, or 11.4%, to 106 9/16.

Pepsi Bottling Group

(PBG)

: Merrill Lynch raised 2000 earnings per share estimates to $1.50 from $1.35 to $1.40; raised 2001 estimates to $1.75 from $1.70. The stock was up 1/2 to 29 7/16.

Pivotal

(PVTL) - Get Report

: UP to buy from accumulate at Merrill Lynch; price target: 70. Pivotal was down 3/16 to 39 13/16.

VISX

(VISX)

: UP to buy from hold at

UBS Warburg

; price target: 33. VISX was down 3/16 to 39 13/16.

Watson Pharmaceuticals

(WPI)

: UP to strong buy from outperform at Morgan Stanley. Yesterday, the company received approval from the

Food and Drug Administration

for its sotalol hydrochloride tablets, which treat ventricular arrhythmia. The news gave it a boost up 4 1/4, or 8.2%, to 56 1/16.

Downgrades

BorgWarner

(BWA) - Get Report

: DOWN to outperform from buy at

ABN Amro

. BorgWarner managed to edge up 1/16 to 36 11/16.

Dow Jones

(DJ)

: DOWN to market outperformer from recommended list at Goldman Sachs. The stock was down 5/8 to 70 7/16.

Eli Lilly

(LLY) - Get Report

: DOWN to market performer from strong buy. The stock was off 1 1/14 to 94 1/2.

Manitowoc

(MTW) - Get Report

: DOWN to neutral from buy at Bear Stearns. The stock slid down 2 7/16, or 8.5%, to 26 3/8.

Initiations

Charles River Laboratories

(CRL) - Get Report

: NEW buy at

ING Barings

; price target: 38. The stock fell 2, or 7.6%, to 24 1/4.

DuPont

(DD) - Get Report

: NEW strong buy at

Chase Hambrecht & Quist

. DuPont was off 1 5/16 to 45 7/16.

eBay

(EBAY) - Get Report

was lifted 7 3/4, or 14.5%, to 61 3/16, after it was started as a NEW strong buy at

Credit Suisse First Boston

; price target: 72.

FedEx

(FDX) - Get Report

: NEW strong buy at

Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown

. Price-target: 57. The stock inched up 5/8 to 42 7/16.

Nextel Partners

(NXTP)

: NEW outperform at

Morgan Stanley Dean Witter

; price target: 39. The stock was off 1/4 to 29 5/8.

PMC-Sierra

(PMCS)

: NEW buy at Lehman Brothers. The stock fell 10 3/8 to 218 3/16.

Priceline.com

(PCLN)

: NEW buy at CSFB; price target: 45. Priceline was bumped up 1 to 39 7/16.

Tibco Software

(TIBX)

: NEW strong buy at

Prudential Securities

; price target: 155. The stock was up 1 1/16 to 127.

Group Moves

W.R. Hambrecht

initiated coverage of several Internet and open source-related companies:

Cobalt Networks

(COBT)

Red Hat

(RHAT)

VA Linux Systems

(LNUX)

WindRiver Systems

(WIND)

Group Moves

Banc of America Securities

initiated coverage of three broadband providers:

Covad Communications

(COVD)

NorthPoint Communications

(NPNT)

Rhythms NetConnections

(RTHM)

UBS Warburg started coverage of six consumer products companies:

Clorox

(CLX) - Get Report

Avon Products

(AVP) - Get Report

Colgate-Palmolive

(CL) - Get Report

Gillette

(G) - Get Report

Kimberly-Clark

(KMB) - Get Report

Procter & Gamble

(PG) - Get Report

Offerings and stock actions

Earthgrains

(EGR)

raised its quarterly dividend 20%, to 6 cents from 5 cents. The company also said it's projecting revenue of more than $2.6 billion in fiscal 2001, up from $2.04 billion in fiscal 2000. Earthgrains was unchanged at 19 1/2.

Bed Bath & Beyond

(BBBY) - Get Report

set a 2-for-1 stock split. It closed up 1/8 to 39 11/16.

Humana's

(HUM) - Get Report

board authorized the repurchase of up to 5 million common shares to be used for employee equity incentive plans. As of June 30, the company had 167.7 million shares outstanding. Humana said it will reacquire the shares in open-market purchases, negotiated transactions, or by using forward-purchase contracts. Humana closed up 3/16 to 7 1/16.

Jack Henry

(JKHY) - Get Report

, which closed up 3/4 to 49 5/8, said it filed to sell 5 million shares of common stock. Proceeds will be used to repay debt and for capital expenditures.

MKS Instrument

(MKSI) - Get Report

said it will not proceed with a planned public stock offering of 3 million shares, including 1 million being sold by shareholders, because of recent market volatility and market conditions. The company, which closed up 2 5/8, or 8.1%, to 35, has no present plans to proceed with the offering.

A MKS spokesman said the company is enforcing a quiet period before the release of second-quarter earnings, which are expected Tuesday.

OmniVision

(OVTI)

was trading at 30, or 17 higher than its IPO price of 13. It closed up 21, or 165%, to 34.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals

(VRTX) - Get Report

, which closed down 3 to 115, has authorized a two-for-one stock split.

Waters Corp.

(WAT) - Get Report

, which makes instruments used by pharmaceutical companies, said it set a 2-for-1 split of its common stock, payable in the form of a stock dividend, to keep its share price within its normal range. Waters Corp. closed down 4 3/4 to 132.

Miscellany

Deutsche Telekom

(DT) - Get Report

, Europe's largest phone company, plans to cut 1,500 jobs by the end of the year, the company said this morning. It closed up 13/16 to 55 7/16.

Database software maker

Informix

(IFMX)

fired its CEO, Jean-Yves Dexmier, replacing him with board member Peter Gyenes just a little more than a week after the company reported weaker-than-expected second quarter earnings. On July 3, Informix said it expected earnings of 1 cent to 3 cents a share, but a

First Call/Thomson Financial

survey expected earnings of 12 cents a share, according to

Reuters

The report also said a spokeswoman for Informix said the company's board met Wednesday night because, it "felt that a new change was in order." The change at the top is effective immediately. Gyenes previously headed Ardent Software, which Informix purchased March 1. Dexmier has been CEO of Informix since July 1999. Informix closed up 5/8, or 12.7%, to 5 9/16.

A U.S. panel advised the

Food and Drug Administration

to reject a bid by

Merck

(MRK) - Get Report

to make its cholesterol-lowering prescription drug Mevacor an over-the-counter product. Merck closed down 1 15/16 to 67 3/16.

By the Numbers

The data on NYSE and Nasdaq percent winners and losers are filtered to exclude stocks whose previous day's volume was less than 25,000 shares; whose last price was less than 5; and whose net change was less than 1/2.

Dow point gain and loss data are based on New York closing prices and do not reflect late composite trading.