Reply #9: Siebel drops qtrly outlook, raises wider concerns

[UpInArms]

http://www.reuters.com/financeNewsArticle.jhtml?type=bondsNews&storyID=8095227

SAN FRANCISCO, April 5 (Reuters) - Business software maker Siebel Systems Inc. (SEBL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) on Tuesday said delayed customer deals will cause it to miss its current first-quarter sales and profit forecast, raising analyst concerns about the health of the software sector amid other profit warnings this week.

Siebel's stock fell about 8 percent in after-hours trade following the company's forecast for total first-quarter revenue of $297 million to $300 million -- well below its Jan. 27 outlook for sales of $325 million to $345 million.

"You have (nine) companies warning in the past two days and so many diverse reasons as to what went wrong .... It's a pretty major thing," said Friedman Billings Ramsey & Co. analyst Nitsan Hargil, after Siebel's warning.

"We were expecting slow and steady growth for the software sector ... but the events of the last two days bring down our expectations for the remainder of the year," he added.

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Siebel woes company specific: analysts
But warning of loss could pressure SAP shares

http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B75EBD004%2DCF0A%2D421C%2DA424%2D317862D654AD%7D&siteid=mktw

LONDON (MarketWatch) - The troubles that have prompted Siebel Systems to warn of a first-quarter loss are company specific, analysts said Wednesday.

Siebel Systems warned of the loss late Tuesday, blaming acquisition-related charges and disappointing application license revenue.

Siebel (SEBL: news, chart, profile) shares remained under pressure in speculative pre-open trading, last down 8.5% at $8.37. The stock closed regular trading off 1.2% at $9.15.

"We would not extrapolate significantly from Siebel's disappointing performance to SAP, as we believe it reflects some company-specific execution issues and some share gain by SAP," Goldman Sachs analysts told clients. Siebel makes software to manage customer relationships.

Yet Goldman said the warning may spark investor concern about the ability of other software companies to meet first-quarter expectations, and so may pressure SAP (SAP: news, chart, profile) (DE:716460: news, chart, profile) shares. SAP shares were flat in midday Frankfurt trading.

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