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B R E A K F A S T W I T H T H E F O O L Tuesday, December 12, 2000 benjamin.rogers@enron.com _________________________________________________________________ Sponsored By: VirtualMoneyManager.com Save $200 until 12/31. Get a FREE subscription to market and equity analysis from top-rated Mastrapasqua & Associates. Serious research for the serious investor. Sign up today! http://www.lnksrv.com/m.asp?i=239419 "The shopping bag ladies -- it's hard to believe, but once they were children." -- Dean Friedman DOUBLECLICK'S DOUBLE TAKE Online advertising powerhouse DoubleClick warns. Figures. By Rick Aristotle Munarriz It was simply a matter of when. DoubleClick (Nasdaq: DCLK), along with fellow online marketers Engage (Nasdaq: ENGA) and 24/7 Media (Nasdaq: TFSM), had already announced layoffs over the past few weeks. Clearly the once-hot Internet advertising niche had run ice-cold. Pink slips and economic booms rarely go hand-in-hand. http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=239420 So when DoubleClick set up a conference call yesterday after the market's close, it didn't take much of a guess to know what the company had to say. It wasn't even a matter of when anymore. DoubleClick lowered projections for both the December and January quarters. Surprised? Not really. It's like pulling up to your house on your birthday to find a dozen cars parked on your front lawn and a chorus of hushes as you approach the door. This surprise party might only startle the Rip Van Winkle who had last checked DoubleClick's pulse after its September quarter performance. The company had reported its first profit at the time and expected similar bottom-line results this quarter. Now fourth-quarter revenues are expected to come in between $126 million and $129 million -- well off the $140 million previously projected. Earnings will be breakeven at best. A wider loss than expected will follow in March. However, DoubleClick still believes that 2001 will be a profitable year. Surprised at the long-term stroke of optimism? You shouldn't be. True, nearly half of DoubleClick's revenues come from dot-com companies. In many cases, today's clients will line the corporate obituaries tomorrow as they struggle with cash burn rates in non-profitable enterprises that the market is no longer interested in subsidizing. However, one can't deny the lure of online marketing in the bricks-and-mortar world. Internet usage is still growing by leaps and bounds. That is something that can't be said of traditional advertising channels such as print, television and billboards. The online medium also provides a more effective way to target an ad recipient. Probably even more important, in leaner economic times where ad budgets need to be justified, the success of an Internet marketing campaign can be effectively measured. So, sure, these are dark times right now. But for investors willing to turn the key and step inside, bright lights, welcoming smiles, and wrapped gifts might be waiting on the other side. _________________________________________________________________ NEWS TO GO Gamblers know to fold 'em when the chips are down. Well, gamblers, the chips are down. Dallas Semiconductor (NYSE: DS), Microchip Technology (Nasdaq: MCHP), and Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) reported that quarterly results will come in below analyst estimates. The chipmakers are blaming a softness in sales for the shortcoming. The same can't be said for General Electric (NYSE: GE) and Sonic (Nasdaq: SONC). Both companies reassured investors that earnings are on track. GE is comfortable with the year ahead. The burgermeisters at Sonic are comfortable with first-quarter estimates despite a slowdown in traffic at the drive-in units. According to this morning's Washington Post, struggling Internet service provider PSINet (Nasdaq: PSIX) will be laying off 300 employees. Fittingly pronounced "sigh Net," the struggling provider has seen its shares crash to under $2 from a high just above $60 a share back in March. Growing revenues at the expense of mounting losses just doesn't cut it nowadays. Take a picture, it'll last longer. For the second time this quarter, Eastman Kodak (NYSE: EK) has had to reduce profit forecasts. The photography giant is now expecting full-year profits to come in lower than the year before. Hoping to shred the negatives, the company is embarking on a cost-cutting crusade that will reduce capital spending, SKUs, and inventory levels. No enlargements. _________________________________________________________________ EDITORS' PICK While the market's been in turmoil, it appears many have been drinking Coors beverages. We've got some hard-core analysis of the company's growing stock value. http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=239421 _______________________________________________________________ -News & Commentary http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=239422 -Fool Community http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=239423 -Post of the Day http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=239424 -Latest Fribble http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=239425 -Latest Market Numbers http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=239426 ____________________________________________________________ My Portfolio: http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=239427 My Discussion Boards: http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=239428 My Fool: http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=239429 Fool.com Home: http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=239430 My E-Mail Settings: http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=239431 Sponsored By: VirtualMoneyManager.com Save $200 until 12/31. Get a FREE subscription to market and equity analysis from top-rated Mastrapasqua & Associates. Serious research for the serious investor. Sign up today! http://www.lnksrv.com/m.asp?i=239432 GET A HEAD START ON 2001 Start your investing research now with Industry Focus 2001. Available in electronic download or hard copy. http://www.lnksrv.com/m.asp?i=239433 NEW! COMPLETE HOME FINANCE CENTER You can do it all here: get a mortgage, get an equity loan, or refinance http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=239434 FOOL DIRECT E-MAIL SERVICES Need to change your address or unsubscribe? You can also temporarily suspend mail delivery. Click here: http://www.fool.com/community/freemail/freemaillogin.asp?email=benjamin.rogers @enron.com< Have ideas about how we can improve the Fool Direct or new e-mail products you'd like to see? Try our discussion board: http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=239435 ____________________________________________________ © Copyright 2000, The Motley Fool. All rights reserved. This material is for personal use only. Republication and redissemination, including posting to news groups, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of The Motley Fool. MsgId: msg-30494-2000-12-12_9-17-21-3344111_2_Plain_MessageAddress.msg-09:23:42(12-12 -2000) X-Version: mailer-sender-master,v 1.84 X-Version: mailer-sender-daemon,v 1.84 Message-Recipient: benjamin.rogers@enron.com
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