At a Glance
Technology sector companies reporting earnings, excluding one-time gains or charges unless noted, include:
* AvantGo Inc. said its fourth-quarter loss widened to $10.6 million, or 35 cents a share, from $2.9 million, or 18 cents, but the performance was far better than the 42-cent loss analysts expected. Revenue climbed to $6.6 million from $1 million. AvantGo also said it expects losses in the first quarter and full year to be narrower than analyst forecasts.
* DataStream Systems Inc. posted a fourth-quarter loss of $992,564, or 5 cents a share, better than the 8-cent loss analysts expected, versus earnings of $2.6 million, or 12 cents, a year ago. The company said it expects full-year earnings in the range of 5 cents to 10 cents a share, better than analyst forecasts of 3 cents. Revenue dropped 18% to $24.7 million.
* EarthLink Inc. said its fourth-quarter loss widened less than expected due to an influx of high-speed, or broadband, Internet subscribers but warned of little growth this year in its dial-up business. The Internet service provider posted a loss of $52.2 million, or 40 cents a share, for the fourth quarter, compared with a loss of $25.6 million, or 22 cents, a year ago--much better than the 51-cent loss analysts had forecast. Revenue rose 15% to $286.8 million. For the first quarter, EarthLink expects a loss of 37 cents to 41 cents a share, more than the 35 cents analysts predicted, and projected that growth in its subscriber base won’t meet forecasts.
* Electronic Arts Inc. said profit declined 3.6% in its fiscal third quarter to $91.5 million, or 66 cents a share, but the results met expectations as revenue grew on strong sales of games for computers and Sony’s PlayStation 2. Net revenue rose 6.6% to $640.3 million.
* Nuance Communications Inc. said its fourth-quarter loss narrowed to $2.6 million, or 8 cents a share, from $7.2 million, or 32 cents, on strong demand for its speech-recognition software. Analysts had forecast a loss of 10 cents. Revenue more than tripled to $17.4 million from $5.7 million. The company reiterated its guidance for the first quarter and slightly raised its revenue outlook for fiscal year 2001.
* PeopleSoft Inc. said fourth-quarter earnings from continuing operations surged 273% to $41 million, or 13 cents a share, well beyond analyst forecasts of 9 cents, as demand for its e-business software suite helped to push license revenue up 73%. Total revenue rose 34% to $498 million.
* RealNetworks Inc., maker of the most popular Internet media-player software, said fourth-quarter profit fell 40% to $3.9 million, or 2 cents a share. The company also lowered its expectations for 2001 sales and profit for the second time. RealNetworks last month warned of weak results for the fourth quarter amid slowing sales of software products and Internet ads, prompting analysts to revise expectations from 4 cents a share to 2 cents. Revenue rose 34% to $58.2 million, missing analyst expectations of $73.6 million.
