VoiceStream Plunges After the Bell on Earnings Disappointment
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
TheStreet Recommends
(D) - Get Dominion Energy Inc 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 Guess?, Inc. 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 Unisys Corporation 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.
Offerings and stock actions
3Com
(COMS)
, a computer networking company, raised its stock repurchasing plan by up to $1 billion.
