Hot Stocks: Netopia falls

November 1, 2000: 7:08 p.m. ET

Xilinx is chipper; The Gap stays fashionable; Read-Rite sees gain

CITY (CNNfn) - Netopia plunged after hours Wednesday, after reporting that the company missed fourth-quarter estimates

Semiconductor maker Xilinx saw gains after the company reported a growth in its chips sale in October.

The Gap stayed positive even after the clothing retailer warned its third quarter would miss analysts' estimates. DSL Internet equipment provider Netopia slipped after announcing that fourth quarter earnings missed analyst's estimates.

Wednesday's after-hours loser

Netopia (NTPA: Research, Estimates) down $4.56 to $6.88. DSL Internet equipment provider Netopia Inc. on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter earnings that missed analyst's estimates, and said it expects a break-even first quarter.

Wednesday's after-hours winners

Xilinx (XLNX: Research, Estimates) up $2.56 to $70. The specialty semiconductor maker on Wednesday said distributors' sales of its chips rose at a double-digit rate in October, compared with the first month of the second quarter, and it remains on track for sequential sales growth of at least 12 percent for its fiscal third quarter.

Gap Inc. (GPS: Research, Estimates) up $1.81 to $26.25. The clothing retailer Gap Inc. said Wednesday that October same-store sales dropped 2 percent over the same month a year ago, and warned its third-quarter earnings will come in below analysts' forecasts.

Read-Rite (RDRT: Research, Estimates) up 88 cents to $8.75. Read-Rite Corp. on Wednesday reported a smaller-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter loss and said it was aiming for a 20 percent sequential increase

in revenue this quarter, due primarily to increased efficiencies, lower costs, higher volume and improved average selling prices.

Wednesday's after-hours newsmakers

Nortel (NT: Research, Estimates) up 25 cents to $44.25. Nortel Networks said Wednesday it expects its fourth-quarter earnings to meet Wall Street forecasts but the company said first-quarter results will come in a penny shy of estimates.

Virata (VRTA: Research, Estimates) up 69 cents to $24.69. The maker of chips and software used in DSL modems said that Cisco Systems (CSCO: Research, Estimates), the biggest maker of networking gear, will license its software that lets users more easily manage devices or programs remotely using just a standard Web browser.

EOG Resources (EOG: Research, Estimates) down 13 cents to $42. EOG will replace Eastern Enterprises in the S&P 500 Index after the close of trading on Wednesday, November 1, 2000. S&P 500 component KeySpan Energy is acquiring Eastern Enterprises in a transaction anticipated to close on that date. The transaction is still subject to SEC approval. EOG Resources, formerly Enron Oil & Gas Co., is an independent (non-integrated) oil and gas company and the operator of substantial proved reserves in the United States, Canada, and offshore Trinidad. The company, headquartered in Houston, will be added to the S&P 500 Oil & Gas (Exploration & Production) industry group.

LanOptics (LNOP: Research, Estimates) up 3 cents to $29.94. The networking equipment company's stock skyrocketed, though it reported a wider third-quarter loss of 14 cents a share on shrinking revenue. The stock may have been helped by an announced agreement between LanOptics' EZchip Technologies subsidiary and IBM (IBM: Research, Estimates) to speed up introduction of EZchip's networking semiconductors. Under the terms of the agreement, IBM will get a 5-percent stake in EZchip.

Radio One (ROIA: Research, Estimates) down 12 cents to $10.25. Radio-station operators had a big day Tuesday, and Radio One extended gains in the sector.

WorldCom (WCOM: Research, Estimates) up 6 cents to $19. The company warned about earnings and revenue in the fourth quarter and next year as it announced a widely awaited plan to create two stocks to reflect its two lines of business.

AT&T (T: Research, Estimates) unchanged at $22. WorldCom's competitor -- which also plans to split itself up -- fell on WorldCom's news, despite getting a boost from Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown, which initiated coverage of it with a "buy" rating.

Altera (ALTR: Research, Estimates) up 82 cents to $33.38. WR Hambrecht lowered its rating on the chip maker due to an anticipated inventory correction in the March 2001 quarter for programmable logic device (PLD) chip makers.

Pittston (PZB: Research, Estimates) unchanged at $14.13. The diversified company -- with a hand in security services, transportation and coal mining, among other businesses -- reported third-quarter earnings that missed analysts' estimates by a wide mark.

Administaff (ASF: Research, Estimates) unchanged at $30.64. The human-resources outsourcing company reported third-quarter earnings that beat Wall Street estimates by a penny a share, but the stock was possibly the victim of investors taking profit after a strong run-up late Tuesday.

Comerica (CMA: Research, Estimates) unchanged at $55.13. The Detroit-based regional bank said it will acquire Los Angeles-based Imperial Bancorp (IMP: Research, Estimates) in a $1.3 billion stock swap that will create the 19th-largest U.S. bank.

Immune Response (IMNR: Research, Estimates) up 12 cents to $4.75. Results from a 1996-1999 trial -- published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association -- showed the company's immunity-boosting drug failed to slow the progress of AIDS in people infected with HIV. "This is old news," said Howard Sampson, the company's chief financial officer. "The study was stopped in May of 1999. We never denied that the overall study did not meet its end-points."

Qwest Communications (Q: Research, Estimates) down 88 cents to $44.81. The broadband communications company fell despite a Federal Communications Commission report saying the number of lines providing high-speed Internet access, or digital subscriber lines, jumped 57 percent during the first six months of 2000.

-- compiled by Antoinette Coulton, Mark Gongloff, and Parija Bhatnagar from staff and wire reports