Monday's Company Report: GLW, DDS, PCS, ROIA, VIGN, WEBM

Author:: Betsy Riley
Publish date:: May 22, 2000 5:38 PM EDT

Mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures

Aluminum giant

Alcoa

(AA) - Get Report

completed its tender offer for

Cordant Technologies

(CDD)

, and extended its offer for precision castings maker

Howmet International

(HWM)

to June 2. Alcoa slipped 1 5/16 to 63 11/16, Cordant rose 1/8 to 57 and Howmet International declined 5/16 to 20 1/2.

Computer chip maker

Advanced Micro Devices

(AMD) - Get Report

said that it would sell 90% of its communications products unit to technology buyout firm

Francisco Partners

for about $375 million in cash. Advanced Micro Devices lowered 3 7/16 to 80 3/8.

Compaq

(CPQ)

official said that

IBM

(IBM) - Get Report

will build the Alpha line of copper computer chips that Compaq uses in its business computers. Compaq decreased 9/16 to 26 7/8.

Corning

(GLW) - Get Report

announced that it will acquire 67% of

IntelliSense

, a provider of telecommunications applications, for about $500 million in Corning stock. After the acquisition, expected to close in the second quarter of 2000, IntelliSense will operate as a wholly owned Corning subsidiary. Corning staggered 7 11/16 to 174 3/4.

Industrial chemicals company

Crompton

(CK)

is in discussions to sell its Industrial Specialties business in order to focus on its specialty chemicals and polymer business, it said. Crompton traded down 1/4 to 13.

Flexi-Van Leasing

will buy the 73% interest in real estate developer

Castle & Cooke

(CCS) - Get Report

that it doesn't already own.

Flexi-Van, which is wholly owned by the chairman and chief executive of Castle & Cooke, David Murdock, will pay $18.50 a share in cash for all outstanding stock. The deal values Castle & Cooke at about $600 million. Murdock had already offered to buy the stake for $17 a share in March. Castle & Cooke gained 1 3/16, or 7%, to 18 1/4.

Communications chip company

LSI Logic

(LSI) - Get Report

will acquire

DataPath Systems

, also a chip supplier, in a stock transaction valued at approximately $420 million. LSI Logic fell 1 1/4 to 45.

Vignette

(VIGN)

will acquire

OnDisplay

(ONDS)

in a stock deal valued at $1.7 billion. Vignette, an electronic business applications supplier, will issue 1.58 shares of its stock for each outstanding share of OnDisplay, which develops and markets applications for powering e-business portals and e-marketplaces in both business-to-business and business-to-consumer e-commerce. Vignette dropped 8 15/16, or 20.4%, to 34 7/8, while OnDisplay climbed 7/8 to 54 1/8.

webMethods

(WEBM)

, which provides business-to-business services for electronic commerce, will announce plans today to acquire

Active Software

(ASWX)

, an electronic business infrastructure software maker, in a stock deal valued at $1.3 billion.

Terms of the deal call for Active Software shareholders to get about 28% of the combined company, which is expected to be called webMethods. Shareholders will get 0.527 a share of webMethod's common stock in exchange for each Active Software share. The companies said the deal will close in the third quarter of 2000. WebMethods slumped 15, or 17.2%, to 72, while Active Software slipped 15/16 to 32 1/16.

For more on both mergers, take a look at the morning's

story from

TheStreet.com/NYTimes.com's

joint newsroom.

Earnings/revenue reports and previews

Dillard's

(DDS) - Get Report

reported first-quarter earnings of 48 cents a share, well below the 13-analyst estimate of 59 cents and down from the year-ago earnings of 63 cents a share. The company said its board approved the repurchase of up to $200 million of its Class-A common stock. Dillard's lowered 7/16 to 14 7/16.

Dycom

(DY) - Get Report

reported fiscal third-quarter earnings of 34 cents a share, in line with the 11-analyst estimate and up from the year-ago earnings of 26 cents a share. Earnings were restated to reflect a three-for-two common stock split distributed to shareholders in February. Dycom dropped 5/16 to 49 15/16.

Shaw Industries

(SHX)

warned investors that it would post second-quarter earnings between 47 cents to 50 cents a share, missing the eight-analyst estimate of 55 cents a share, and possibly below the year-ago 48-cent profit. The carpet maker blamed the short fall on higher raw material costs. Shaw dipped 5/8 to 14 13/16.

Analyst actions

This morning,

Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette

downgraded both

Quaker Oats

(OAT)

and

General Mills

(GIS) - Get Report

to market performance from buy. Quaker Oats slid 1 to 69 3/8 and General Mills declined 1/8 to 39 11/16. Quaker Oats declined 1/16 to 70 5/16, while General Mills lost 3/16 to 39 5/8.

Also,

UBS Warburg

removed

Microsoft

(MSFT) - Get Report

from its Global Focus List and replaced it with

Ariba

(ARBA)

. Microsoft skidded 7/8 to 64 3/16, while Ariba lifted 1 13/16 to 60 13/16.

Upgrades

Actrade

(ACRT)

: UP to strong buy from buy at

ING Barings

. Actrade lost 1/16 to 15 13/16.

National Computer Systems

(NLCS)

: UP to strong buy from buy at

Thomas Weisel

. National Computer Systems sank 4 1/4, or 9.1%, to 42.

Downgrades

Aztar

(AZR)

: DOWN to market perform from buy at DLJ. Aztar stumbled 1/4 to 12 5/16.

Brocade Communications

(BRCD)

: DOWN to neutral at

US Bancorp Piper Jaffray

. Brocade plummeted 15/16 to 109 5/16.

Halliburton

(HAL) - Get Report

: DOWN to market perform from buy at DLJ. Halliburton fell 3 1/2, or 6.8%, to 47 3/8.

IBM

(IBM) - Get Report

: fiscal 2000 revenue estimate DOWN to $90 billion from $91.2 billion at

Wit Soundview

. Fiscal 2001 revenue estimate DOWN to $99.6 billion from $101 billion. Fiscal 2000 earnings estimate DOWN to $4.34 a share from $4.44 a share. Fiscal 2001 earnings estimate to $5.13 a share from $5.19. IBM hopped 2 9/16 to 108.

Nationwide Financial Services

(NFS)

: DOWN to an outperform from buy. National Financial Services tacked on 9/16 to 27 1/2.

Park Place Entertainment

(PPE)

: DOWN to buy from top pick at DLJ. Park Place Entertainment slid 5/8 to 12 7/8. Park Place Entertainment fell 1/2 to 12 9/16.

Westpoint Stevens

(WXS)

: DOWN to market perform from buy list at

Goldman Sachs

. Westpoint Stevens slipped 6 5/16, or 35%, to 11 11/16. Westpoint Stevens slipped 4 3/4, or 26.3%, to 13 1/4.

Initiations

Air Products

(APD) - Get Report

: REINITIATED market outperformer at Goldman Sachs. Air Products tacked on 11/16 to 36 11/16. Air Products edged up 5/8 to 36 5/8.

Calpine

(CPN)

: NEW strong buy at

ABN Amro

. Calpine declined 4 1/16 to 102 9/16.

Metawave

(MTWV)

: NEW intermediate-term accumulate, long-term buy at

Merrill Lynch

, price target: 30; NEW buy at

Salomon Smith Barney

, price target: 32. Metawave stumbled 1 5/8, or 6.3%, to 24.

National Information Consortium

(EGOV) - Get Report

: NEW strong buy at

Credit Suisse First Boston

, price target: 60. National Information Consortium popped 5/8, or 6.4%, to 10 3/8.

Partner Re

(PRE)

: NEW market outperformer at Goldman Sachs. Partner Re advanced 3/16 to 37 7/16.

Praecis Pharmaceuticals

(PRCS)

: NEW buy at CSFB. NEW buy at Salomon Smith Barney, price target: 35. NEW buy at

Bear Stearns

, price target: 25. Praecis Pharmaceuticals slipped 2 1/2, or 12.7%, to 17 1/16.

360 Networks

(TSIX)

: NEW buy at CSFB. 360 Networks fell 1 3/4, or 11%, to 14 1/16.

Offerings and stock actions

Craftmade International's

(CRFT)

board approved the doubling of its quarterly cash dividend to 4 cents from 2 cents a share. The company's chairman and CEO James Ridings said the cash dividend was increased because of the company's strong cash flow. Craftmade International slid 1/8 to 5 1/4.

eMed Technologies

has asked the SEC to withdraw it's $46 million IPO. The company, which allows physicians to access X-rays and MRIs via the Internet, axed its plans due to market conditions.

Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette

SG Cowen

Wit Soundview

and

DLJdirect

are serving as the deal's lead underwriters.

Horizon PCS

, the largest affiliate of

Sprint PCS Group

(PCS)

and a marketer of digital personal communications services, filed to go public today. According to a filing with the

Securities and Exchange Commission

, Horizon hopes to raise $125 million from an IPO of Class-A common stock. Sprint PCS Group moved down 1 1/2 to 50 5/8.

Petroleum Place

, an oil and natural gas Internet marketplace, announced that it has filed with the SEC for an initial public offering of its common stock. The company has completed its second round of financing through a private placement that raised $60 million from the financial community and the oil and gas industry, including

Goldman Sachs

(GS) - Get Report

and

EOG Resources

(EOG) - Get Report

. The size of the offering was not immediately available. Goldman Sachs slipped 3 1/4 to 81 5/16, while EOG Resources climbed 1/8 to 31 3/16.

Radio One

(ROIA)

advanced 1/4 to 70 3/16 after it announced a three-for-one stock split in the form of a stock dividend. The record date for the split is May 30.

Shareholders will receive two shares of the company's newly created nonvoting Class-D common stock for each common share. Distribution of the dividend shares will take place as soon as possible after the Class-D common stock is accepted for listing on the Nasdaq, which the company expects to occur no later than mid-June. Radio One fell 1 5/16 to 68 5/8.

Miscellany

Bertelsmann AG

, a German media company, is expected to name Daniel Brewster chief executive of its

Gruner + Jahr

magazine operations in the U.S., according to

The Wall Street Journal

. Brewster, who is currently chief executive of

American Express Publishing

, succeeds John Heins who left in February to join

America Online's

(AOL)

Netscape unit. AOL shed 1 1/8 to 52 1/4.

Herbalife International's

(HERBA)

president and founder Mark Hughes died in his sleep at his Malibu, Calif., home Sunday. Hughes, 44, founded Herbalife, which markets nutritional, weight management and personal care products, in 1980.

In a prepared statement, the company said it wants to reassure all of Herbalife's constituents, including employees, distributors, customers, shareholders and vendors, that plans are underway to ensure that Herbalife will continue with the spirit and vitality of the founder's vision. Herbalife International shed 1 3/16, or 12%, to 8 11/16.

For further coverage, take a look at the morning's

story from

TheStreet.com/NYTimes.com's

joint newsroom.

Metromedia Fiber Network

(MFNX)

was lost 1 9/16, or 5.2%, to 28 3/8 after it expanded its contract with privately held construction company

Bechtel

to build and manage its optical fiber networks infrastructure in North America and Europe. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Metromedia said the contract will help it achieve its goal of becoming the world's largest provider of fiber-optic infrastructure by 2004. Its goal is to provide 3.6 million fiber-miles of Internet backbone and local optical networks to customers in 67 domestic and international markets.

Investment bank

UBS Warburg

announced it will work with

E*Trade

(EGRP)

to launch a foreign exchange trading platform for online investors. UBS Warburg will provide live foreign exchange pricing and order execution for E*Trade via a business-to-business platform. E*Trade was down 2 7/8, or 14.8%, to 16 1/2.

Vertel's

(VRTL)

declined 7/8, or 5.6%, to 14 1/2 after its board gave CEO Bruce Brown the additional title of chairman. The company has gone without a chairman since January 1998. The board also approved naming Cyrus Irani president and COO.

The Heard on the Street column in the

Wall Street Journal

talks about

Fidelity Investments'

bet on the next big thing on Wall Street: wireless financial services. What's driving Fidelity's wireless push, the article states, is that rival

Charles Schwab

beat it to the punch in embracing the Web. The

Journal

quotes Joseph Ferra, senior vice president of Fidelity Online Brokerage, as saying: "We look toward wireless as the second-coming of the Internet."