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CNNfn market movers
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November 20, 1998: 2:22 p.m. ET
Software maker BEA tumbles; Computer Literacy IPO soars
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - One business management software company was a case study in the hard knocks of Wall Street Friday, as a weaker outlook sent its stock plunging onto the day's list of market movers.
Dealt a heavy blow was BEA Systems, (BEAS) off 13-1/16 to 13-5/16, or about 50 percent, even though the software company beat analyst earnings expectations by a penny a share in the third quarter.
However, in a conference call with the financial community, executives pared revenue growth targets, citing weak global markets and clients' retrenchments, analysts said.
Goldman Sachs, Piper Jaffray and CS First Boston all lowered their ratings on BEA Systems stock.
Elsewhere, Lehman Brothers lowered its rating on Billing Concepts (BILL), a billing clearinghouse for telecommunications clients, to outperform from buy, citing the company's slow growth expectations for its local carrier billing business in 1999. Its stock fell 2-1/4 to 10.
Billing Concepts fell 3-13/16 Thursday after announcing plans to buy private billing services firm Communications Software Consultants for about 2.48 million shares of its stock.
On the IPO front, Computer Literacy (CMPL) rocketed up to 23-15/16 after the vendor of computer training materials via the Web priced 3 million shares Thursday night at $10 a share, above the $7 to $9 a share expected price range.
Nationsbanc Montgomery Securities was the lead underwriter.
AutoDesk (ADSK) rose 4-1/16 to 35-1/16 after the maker of computer-aided-design software Thursday posted third-quarter earnings of 44 cents per diluted share, in line with analysts' expectations as reported by First Call.
Rolling along was Digital River (DRIV), shooting up 1-9/16 to 19-13/16 after the online computer vendor Anything Internet said it will sell the software distributor's products on its Web site.
Getting a shot from a brokerage was Sepracor (SEPR), up 4 to 79 after Merrill Lynch began coverage of the company -- which tries to improve existing drugs -- with a "short-term accumulate" and a "long-term buy" rating.
Cendant (CD) climbed 7/16 to 14-7/8, after the direct-marketing and franchise company agreed to sell its consumer software unit to the French media and travel company Havas S.A. for $800 million, plus contingent payments of up to $200 million next year.
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