Amdocs attempted to assuage shareholders Tuesday, following news earlier in the week that Sprint has backed out of a previously announced billing migration project, by reiterating its revenue and earnings guidance for the first fiscal quarter 2004, which ends Dec. 31, 2003.
The company expects revenues for the quarter to fall between $416 million and $422 million. Amdocs expects earnings to be 24 cents per share, excluding acquisition-related costs and related tax effects.
“We continue to see positive signs in the market this quarter, which combined with our existing customer commitments gives us confidence that Amdocs is on track to achieve modest sequential growth in revenue and earnings in the next quarters, including the first quarter,” said Dov Barahav, chief executive officer.
Barahav added that Sprint’s cancellation of the project, announced Monday, will not materially impact Amdocs’ upcoming financial results. Even so, shares of Amdocs plunged nearly 15 percent to trade at $21.90 per share by mid-day Tuesday. The stock was downgraded to “underperform” by Jeffries & Co.
Meanwhile, shares of Amdocs’ competitor Convergys Corp., which will instead build Sprint’s new billing system, were up nearly 10 percent to trade at $16.62, and the stock received upgrades from Jeffries & Co., Raymond James & Associates Inc. and SunTrust Rbsn Humphrey.
