Russell slips as Dow again looks to record
The Dow is cruising toward another record close while the Russell 2000 is sagging in midday trading. In small cap action, a sharp drop in revenue is hurting shares of Openwave Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: OPWV), while shares of Synchronoss Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNCR) got a lift on news its quarterly profit doubled.
At 2:30 p.m. ET the Russell 2000 had lost 2.84 points, or 0.34 percent, to 830.96. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 29.58 points, or 0.23 percent, to 13,135.08. That’s above Thursday’s record close of 13,105.50.
Shares of Gaithersburg, Md.-based Gene Logic Inc. (Nasdaq: GLGC) are sagging on news of a sharp drop in first-quarter revenue. Revenue for the three months ended March 31 was $3.3 million, down 62% from revenue of $8.7 million for the first quarter of 2006, the pharmaceutical company reported before the market open. The company blamed the decline on lower sales for subscriptions to its gene expression and toxicogenomics database. The stock is trading at $1.90, down $0.40, or 17.43%.
Synchronoss Technologies, Inc. rose $3.40, or 18.22%, to $22.06 after announcing that quarterly profit increased 133%. Income during the quarter ended March 31 was $5.94 million, a rise of 133% compared with income of $25.55 million in the first three months of 2006, the provider of transaction management software said after Thursday’s close. Synchronoss attributed the profit jump to a 30% rise in business with AT&T, its biggest client.
Shares of software solutions provider Openwave Systems Inc. are in negative territory on news of a quarterly net loss and a steep drop in revenue. The net loss for the quarter ended March 31 was $18.5 million, or $0.20 per share, compared with net income of $20.5 million, or $0.21 per share a year earlier, the Redwood City, Calif.-based company said after Thursday’s close. That’s well below analysts’ estimates of a loss of $0.09 per share. Revenues fell to $71.1 million from $113.0 million in the same period a year earlier. Shares are down $0.75, or 9.23%, at $7.33.
The price of oil is above $66 a barrel, up more than a dollar, after authorities in Saudi Arabia said they have arrested 172 people suspected of planning a terrorist attack on the country’s oil fields and military.
Elsewhere, software giant Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq: MSFT) helped the Dow when it said that fiscal third-quarter earnings increased 65%. That’s good news for the new Windows Vista operating system, which hit shelves in January.
