ViryaNet and HP slide as Zebra and AirGate climb

Frontline Solutions, Oct, 2004 by Margot Crabtree

Hammered by consumer confidence woes, major markets fell this session. Job creation worries caused the Consumer Confidence Index to drop from the 105.7 posted in July to 98.2, far below the 103.5 reading economists had expected. The index had been rising since April, and the August reading was the lowest since May, when it registered 93.1.

"The slowdown in job growth has curbed consumers' confidence," said Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board's Consumer Research Center. "The level of consumer optimism has fallen off, and caution has returned. Until the job market and pace of hiring pick up, this cautious attitude will prevail."

Traveling south along with Wall Street, the Frontline Ticker shed 48.59 points (5.44%) and closed at 844.90. Of the 47 stocks tracked in our index, declining issues outpaced advancers by a 2-to-1 margin; just two were unchanged from last month.

Despite narrowing its loss in its second fiscal quarter, ViryaNet dropped 1.57 points, or 43.98%, to end at 2.00. ViryaNet reported a net loss of $852,000, or $0.19 per share, compared with a net loss of $1.0 million, or $0.39 per share, in the comparable quarter last year. ViryaNet was our top percentage loser this session.

Hewlett-Packard slid on soft third-quarter profits. The company blamed the loss on missteps with a new order-processing system and lower-than-expected demand in its storage and server units. Management shake-ups followed. HP earned $586 million, or $0.19 per share, versus net income of $297 million, or $0.10 per share, earned in the year-ago quarter. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call were expecting HP to earn $0.31 per share in the quarter. HP slipped 2.26 points, or 11.22%, and closed at 17.89.

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On August 26, 2004, Zebra announced a three-for-two stock split to shareholders of record as of July 29, 2004. Zebra increased 2.06 points, or 3.75%, and ended at 57.15. Zebra was our top dollar gainer this session.

AirGate PCS added 1.92 points, or 12.48%, after reporting third fiscal quarter net income of $2.2 million, or $0.18 per share, compared with a net loss of $8.2 million, or $1.59 per share, in the same quarter the previous year. Ending the month at 17.30, AirGate PCS was our top percentage gainer.