May 03, 2001 The stock [US:CDO] took a 95 cent, or 28 percent dive, to $2.50 over the Redibook ECN. "Specifically, it is clear that the growth and profitability of our core businesses have been challenged by the cost and availability of funds, as well as structural costs," said Norm Blake, Comdisco's chief executive. He added that the company "will not achieve previous earnings forecasts," and that he could not give any guidance into the fiscal year. The company said the dividend would be suspended until the company's liquidity and capital position improved.
Asyst Technologies [US:ASYT] sank $3.38, or 18 percent, to $15.74. The maker of equipment used to clean semiconductor equipment said late yesterday that it earned a nickel a share in the first quarter, down from EPS of 34 cents in the same period last year, and 20 cents below the average analyst estimate compiled by First Call/Thomson Financial. Sales for the period rose 25 percent over last year to $113.4 million.
"Our business climate changed significantly late in the fourth quarter," said Doug McCutcheon, chief financial officer, which he said led to under absorption of manufacturing overhead costs.
Macromedia [US:MACR] was pummeled for a $5.70, or 21 percent loss, to $20.88. The company reported posted late Wednesday fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of 15 cents a share, down from EPS of 30 cents in the same period a year ago, and a nickel below the consensus analyst estimate. Revenue rose 3.1 percent over last year to $89.1 million.
The company said it would not provide financial guidance for the near term due to a lack of visibility.
GE [US:GE] eased 34 cents to $48.76 over Redibook, reversing earlier gains, after the U.S. Dept. of Justice tentatively approved the company's merger with Honeywell. The government's agreement to OK the deal is conditional on Honeywell [US:HON] divesting its helicopter engine business and authorizing new third-party maintenance and repair service for some of its aircraft engines. See full story.
Honeywell rose $2.65 to $51.70 over Redibook.
Shares of Cisco Systems [US:CSCO] eased 75 cents to $19.25 in Instinet. Cisco clocked a 12-percent gain Wednesday on volume of 171 million shares after comments from an analyst at Morgan Stanley sparked a networking rally. See full Ratings Game report.
Among other high-tech shares seeing activity, Microsoft [US:MSFT] trimmed 46 cents to $69.30 in the pre-open. The company is expected to unveil a plan Thursday to give customers greater access to the source code of its software. See full story.
Though it has no plans to make its products freely available to the public, Microsoft will make the source code more widely available to address "valid business needs," reported the Financial Times, citing a speech to be delivered by a Microsoft executive at New York University on Thursday.
Separately, Goldman Sachs analyst Rick Sherlund said the software industry didn't need to work down inventory levels since most of its products are sold for current consumption. He believes the sector could come back more quickly than other tech sectors.
Microsoft is among Sherlund's favorite stocks. Among others, Siebel Systems [US:SEBL] fell $2.10 to $45.80 and BEA Systems [US:BEAS] lost $1.50 to $40.75.
SG Cowen's Drew Brosseau gave a conflicting view, saying the recent spending downturn in the sector appeared to be continuing, "with no clear signs of upturn from the major software companies."
He said Oracle's [US:ORCL] May quarter "sounds particularly challenging." Oracle gave up 51 cents to $16.66.
Also, Intel Corp. [US:INTC] was down 74 cents to $31.20, Sun Microsystems [US:SUNW] gave up 49 cents to $19.95 and JDS Uniphase [US:JDSU] dropped $1.17 to $22.68.
Stock futures indicated U.S. share markets would be off to a rocky start. June S&P futures fell 11.20 to 1,259.80, which was about 12 1/4 points below fair value, according to HL Camp & Company. Nasdaq 100 futures slumped a limit-down 42.00, or about 40 1/2 points below fair value, to 1,932.00.
The 'triple Qs' [US:QQQ], a tracking stock for the Nasdaq 100 Index [US:$NDX], fell 1.18, or 2.4 percent, to $47.80 over Redibook.
Emily Church is London bureau chief of CBS.MarketWatch.com.
Tomi Kilgore is a reporter for CBS.MarketWatch.com.
