VoiceStream Plunges After the Bell on Earnings Disappointment

Author:: Tara Murphy
Publish date:: May 8, 2000 7:24 PM EDT

VoiceStream Wireless (VSTR) lost its signal after the company reported a first-quarter loss of $1.68 a share, wider than the nine-analyst expected loss of $1.14 and the year-ago loss of 81 cents. In post-market activity, the shares plunged to 96 1/4 from Monday's closing price of 105 1/4.

Bausch & Lomb

(BOL)

said its sweetened $667 bid for

Wesley Jessen

(WJCO)

was its best and final offer. Wesley Jessen turned down an earlier $34 a share offer from Bausch & Lomb, citing that Wesley Jessen stock traded as high as $40 in January. Bausch & Lomb also said that it upped Friday's deadline for its tender offer for Wesley Jessen to May 31.

In other postclose news (earnings estimates from

First Call/Thomson Financial

; earnings reported on a diluted basis unless otherwise specified):

Mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures

AGL Resources

(ATG)

said it entered a $500 million cash deal to acquire

Virginia Natural Gas

, a division of

Dominion Resources

(D) - Get Report

. According to the deal's terms, AGL would buy all the outstanding shares of Virginia Natural Gas, making it¿s a fully-owned unit of AGL. The acquisition would add to AGL's earnings no longer than a year after its close, which is set for Dec. 31.

History doesn't bode well for NTT Communications, the unit of Japanese telecommunications giant

Nippon Telegraph & Telephone

(NTT)

that offered to buy Colorado-based web company

Verio

(VRIO)

for a nearly 70% premium.

While Verio surged 22 3/8, or 62.3%, to 58 5/16, investors, perhaps remembering the unpleasant forays into Hollywood studios and pricey real estate by Japanese companies in the 1980s, sent NTT's U.S.-traded shares down 1/4 to 66.

NTT may be making a prudent expansion into a growing U.S. market for Web services and it may be able to export some of that know-how back to Asia, where it is a huge player. But Japanese investment in the U.S. has often proved problematic.

Trophy properties, like New York's

Rockefeller Center

, were sold by their Japanese buyers at far less than the acquisition price and integrating risk-averse Japanese managers with carefree American employees has often proved difficult. At least, says Alexander Muromcew, who manages Japanese shares in the team-managed Loomis Sayles International Equity Fund, the Japanese didn't buy at the very top of the market this time.

Andrew Morse

Earnings/revenue reports

Cais Internet

(CAIS)

reported a first-quarter loss of 91 cents a share, narrower than the three-analyst estimate of a $1.05 loss and wider than the year-ago report of a 45 cent-loss.

Guess

(GES) - Get Report

reported a 13.4% increase in April same-store sales. The clothing maker also said that it sees its second-quarter earnings in line with the four-analyst estimate of 26 cents a share and the fiscal 2000 five-analyst estimate of $1.49 a share.

Kent Electronics

(KNT)

posted fourth-quarter earnings of 25 cents a share, beating the seven-analyst estimate of 23 cents and the year-ago 2 cents.

Nova

(NIS)

posted first-quarter earnings of 27 cents a share, in line with the seven-analyst estimate and up from the year-ago 19 cent-profit.

Triad Hospitals

(TRIH)

posted first-quarter earnings of 16 cents a share, beating the 14-analyst estimate of 10 cents and up from the year-ago $1.20 loss.

Unisys

(UIS) - Get Report

chairman and CEO Larry Weinbach disappointed analysts during a meeting after he restated for a second time that the computer services company's revenue growth would not return to double digits until the second half of fiscal 2000.

According to

Reuters

, Wall Street analyst who attended the meeting said they were hoping to hear of a quicker recovery, but received the same guidance that was given during Unysys' first-quarter earnings report.

US Oncology

(USON)

said it would report first-quarter earnings between 27 cents to 29 cents a share, including a onetime gain of 17 cents. The 10-analyst estimate forecasted the company to post a 10-cent profit.