Symyx plunges to new low on downgrade, lowered ’07 outlook
Shares of Symyx Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: SMMX) lost more than one-third of their value in heavy trading this morning after Nollenberger Capital downgraded the company from “Buy” to “Neutral.”
By 11:06 ET, Symyx’s stock had plummeted $6.22, or nearly 35%, to a new 52-week low of $11.58 after having traded as low as $10.92 earlier in the day. Previously, shares had traded between $16.01 (on Feb. 27) and $30.04 (on May 4, 2006) in the past year.
Volume was exceptionally heavy this morning with more than 2.5 million shares changing hands, compared with an average three-month daily volume of 198,902 shares.
The downgrade came following a series of announcements by the Santa Clara, Calif., company after the market closed on Wednesday.
In one statement, Symyx said it named Isy Goldwasser, company president, as its chief executive. Goldwasser succeeds Steven Goldby as the firm’s CEO while Goldby will assume the position of executive chairman.
In a separate announcement, Symyx reported a loss per share of $0.03 on revenue of $25 million for the first quarter ended March 31. The results were in line with estimates by analysts polled by Thomson First Call, who predicted a loss per share of $0.03 on revenue of $25 million for the quarter.
Goldwasser said the company is seeing some adjustments in certain key markets that will make 2007 “a transitional year” for the company. As such, Symyx revised its 2007 guidance downward.
For 2007, Symyx predicted a loss per share of $0.04 to a gain of $0.06 on revenue of $110-$120 million. Analysts were expecting earnings per share of $0.41 on revenue of $137.2 million for the year.
Symyx is a provider of R&D execution for the chemicals, energy, life sciences, consumer products and other industries.
