Newbridge Warns of Shortfall; priceline.com Tops Views but Trades Down

Author:: Heather Moore
Publish date:: May 4, 1999 7:43 PM EDT

Blaming lower than expected sales,

Newbridge Networks

(NN)

warned its fourth-quarter earnings will come in around 12 cents to 14 cents a share. The 15-analyst

First Call

forecast called for earnings of 21 cents vs. the year-ago 12 cents.

In other earnings news (or non-earnings news, as the case may be),

priceline.com

(PCLN)

slipped to 128 in late

Instinet

trading from a regular-session close of 134 following its first-quarter report. The e-commerce company, which went public in March, reported a quarter loss of 12 cents a share, a penny narrower than the five-analyst outlook. Revenue rose 160% from the fourth quarter.

In other postclose news (earnings estimates from First Call; earnings reported on a diluted basis unless otherwise specified):

Earnings/revenue reports and previews

Alternative Living Services

(ALI)

said it sees 1999 earnings of $1 to $1.10 a share and 2000 earnings of $1.40 to $1.60 a share. The 20-analyst outlook calls for 1999 earnings of $1.44 and a 15-analyst outlook calls for 2000 earnings of $1.90.

Autodesk

(ADSK) - Get Report

warned it sees first-quarter pro-forma earnings of 10 cents to 15 cents a share and diluted earnings of 2 cents to 5 cents a share due to customer transition in the company's product line. The 10-analyst view called for a profit of 40 cents vs. the year-ago 55 cents.

Egghead.com

(EGGS)

posted a fourth-quarter loss of 50 cents a share, 6 cents narrower than the five-analyst forecast and better than the year-ago loss of $1.51. The stock lifted 1/2 in after-hours trading to 14.

Heilig-Meyers

(HMY) - Get Report

said its April same-store sales lifted 1.6%.

Hot Topic

(HOTT)

said its first-quarter same-store sales surged 15.3%.

VDI Media

(VDIM)

reported first-quarter earnings of 17 cents a share, including expenses of $600,000 for the consolidation of facilities and the integration of operations related to recent acquisitions. The two-analyst forecast called for operating earnings of 15 cents vs. the year-ago 12 cents.

In other earnings news:

Mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures

AT&T

(T) - Get Report

agreed to acquire the remaining 50% of privately held

Lenfest Communications

it doesn't already own for about 43 million shares.

Silicon Storage Technology

(SSTI) - Get Report

agreed to acquire privately-held

Linvex Technology

in a stock deal whose financial terms were undisclosed.

Offerings and stock actions

PacifiCare Health Systems

(PHSYB)

approved a plan to combine and reclassify its Class A and Class B common shares into a single class of voting stock and announced plans to buyback 5.9 million shares.