Friday, Oct. 1, 1999

After-Hours Markets

Remember what this table looked like at 5 p.m. EDT? Well, it's pretty much the same. The leader,

Digital Insight

(DGIN)

, hasn't changed in 90 minutes.

Dell

(DELL) - Get Report

traded a few more shares and

Amazon

(AMZN) - Get Report

moved past

Microsoft

(MSFT) - Get Report

.

Island ECN, owned by Datek Online, offers trading, mainly in Nasdaq-listed stocks, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. EDT. Prior to Sept. 15 Island offered trading from 8 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. EDT

.

--

Eric Gillin

Day-Session Report

Major proxies finished lower, but were looking much better after a bounce off intraday lows. The

Dow Jones Industrial Average

ended down 63.9 to 10,273, after being down more than 130 points. The

Nasdaq Composite Index

also fought back, closing down 9.3 to 2736. Meanwhile, the

S&P 500

squeaked out a fractional gain to 1282.

The big European indices -- France's

CAC

, Germany's

Xetra Dax

and London's

FTSE

-- all closed in slightly negative territory.

In Asian markets, Tokyo's

Nikkei

rose 107.1, or 0.6%, to 17,712. Hong Kong markets were closed for China's

National Day

holiday.

Mergers, Acquisitions and Joint Ventures

AT&T

(T) - Get Report

said it was considering strategic options relating to its 58% interest in

Excite@Home

(ATHM) - Get Report

. In response to rumors that

America Online

(AOL)

had been pinned as a possible buyer, AT&T said it has not forged any definitive deals.

CMS Energy

(CPG) - Get Report

bought energy services company

Viron

from

York International

(YRK)

in a deal which will result in a $10 million pretax gain for York.

Kellogg

(K) - Get Report

is acquiring

Worthington Foods

(WFDS)

for $24 a share, based on about 12.8 million shares outstanding, or $307 million, Kellogg said. Kellogg expects to complete the deal by year-end. Worthington manufactures and markets "vegetarian and other healthful foods."

Revlon

(REV) - Get Report

has decided to pursue the sale of its worldwide Professional Products business and its noncore Latin American brands. Revlon said it is negotiating or in active talks with potential purchasers and anticipates concluding the sales by the end of the first quarter of next year for gross proceeds of more than $500 million. Revlon also said it has decided not to sell its remaining cosmetics, personal care, fragrances and skin-treatment businesses.

Earnings/Revenue Reports and Previews

Datascope

(DSCP)

said it expects first-quarter earnings per share to be between 29 and 31 cents, above the current three-analyst estimate of 24 cents a share.

Midland

(MLAN)

said it sees third-quarter earnings in line with the year-ago 66 cents, beating the current analyst estimate of 52 cents a share.

Service Corp. International

(SRV) - Get Report

lowered its third-quarter earnings estimate to 10 cents to 13 cents a diluted share. The current eight-analyst estimate is for earnings of 22 cents a share.

Systems and Computer Technology

(SCTC)

said it expects fourth-quarter earnings per share of 11 to 15 cents, lower than the analyst consensus estimate of 24 cents a share.

USG

(USG)

said it expects to report record earnings and sales for 1999 as home building and remodeling markets continue to boom.

Offerings and Stock Actions

Covad Communications

(COVD)

said it planned to register to sell 13 million common shares.

Dexter

(DEX) - Get Report

said

International Specialty Products

(ISP)

filed to notify U.S. regulators that it will buy a more than 15% stake in Dexter's voting stock.

Shares of

Digital Insight

(DGIN)

, an Internet banking firm, jumped 17 3/16, or 114.5%, to 32 1/8 in its first day of trading.

OshKosh B'Gosh

(GOSHA)

said it will buy back 4.5 million class A shares in a Dutch auction. The company said it would also buy back 100,000 shares in a self-tender.

Salton

(SFP)

said it withdrew its 4.6 million share proposed stock offering because it doesn't think the company's future growth and current profitability are currently reflected in its stock price.

Analyst actions

SG Cowen

and

Salomon Smith Barney

broke out the scalpel for a number of HMO's in the wake of news that they may soon face new litigation as some plaintiffs' attorneys prepare class-action lawsuits in an effort to increase patients' benefits. Cowen cut ratings and or price targets on the following stocks:

Aetna

(AET)

,

Foundation Health

(FHS)

,

Humana

(HUM) - Get Report

,

PacifiCare Health

(PHSY)

,

United HealthCare

(UNH) - Get Report

and

WellPoint

(WLP)

.

Salomon cut WellPoint's price target to 74, United Health's to 54, and

Oxford's

(OXHP)

to 21.

SG Cowen cut its rating on

Apex

(APEX) - Get Report

to buy from strong buy.

PaineWebber

started coverage of

Esterline Technologies

(ESL)

with an attractive rating.

Brown Brothers Harriman

raised

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco

(RJR)

to a long-term buy from a neutral rating.

Warburg Dillon Read

cut its 1999 earnings estimates on

Sipex

(SIPX)

to 46 cents from 65 cents a share and cut its price target to 15 from 21. Analyst Gregory Mischou said that Sipex management indicated that a wafer availability problem that caused a shortfall would impact the fourth quarter as well.

PaineWebber initiated coverage of

Tiffany

(TIF) - Get Report

with a neutral rating.

SG Cowen cut its price target on

United Health

(UNH) - Get Report

to 63 from 90 but kept its strong buy rating.

Morgan Stanley Dean Witter

upgraded

UNUMProvident

(UNM) - Get Report

to strong buy from outperform.

Miscellany

American Home Products

(AHP)

reached out-of-court settlements with four plaintiffs in California whose fen-phen diet-drug lawsuits were scheduled to begin separate trials on Monday. Terms were not disclosed.

Ford

(F) - Get Report

plans to spin off its auto-parts unit --

Visteon Automotive Systems

-- to shareholders and give wage and job guarantees to the division's factory workers,

The New York Times

reported, citing people close to the matter. The

Times

reported that Ford pondered selling the unit to either

Lear

(LEA) - Get Report

or

Delphi Automotive Systems

(DPH)

, but labor issues along with tax considerations persuaded Ford to spin off the unit. Delphi was spun off in May from

General Motors

(GM) - Get Report

.

Oddenda

Police bagged a not-so-savvy St. Petersburg, Fla., thief after he was caught on tape holding up a local

Circle K

unarmed, and with only a transparent plastic trash bag over his head for a disguise. Further evidence of Herbert L. Hill's criminal mastermind was revealed when police learned that the suspect, an admitted crack addict, was publicly bragging about his deed.