Bank technology stocks last week struggled to hold on to recent gains amid investor concerns over inflation.
Market observers said fears over pending economic news are causing potential buyers to put off stock purchases. And some analysts said they saw signs of a coming market correction.
Nasdaq technology stocks, "after some real good runs, probably experienced some profit-taking in the last week as the market pulled back," said F. Mark D'Annolfo, an equity analyst at Adams Harkness, Boston.
"But as a group," he added, the bank technology sector "remains healthy."
In news affecting banks, Sungard Data Systems Inc. said it would buy NCS Financial Systems Inc. for $95 million in cash.
NCS is a unit of National Computer Systems Inc., Eden Prairie, Minn. NCS, with 350 employees, develops and supports trust accounting systems for the financial community.
NCS had sales of $58.1 million and operating income of $9.7 million during its 1995 fiscal year. The deal is expected to close in July, pending regulatory approval.
"This acquisition represents an exciting extension of our investment support systems business," said James L. Mann, chairman and chief executive officer at Sungard in a prepared statement.
The company's "trust management and corporate trust systems are fine additions to our product lines," he said.
Sungard provides disaster recovery services and builds investment support systems for financial service companies.
In other news, PMT Services Inc. signed a letter of intent to acquire Martin Howe Associates Inc., a Dallas-based wireless technology firm.
PMT, based in Nashville, will treat the deal as a pooling of interests and expects it to close July 1. The company provides credit card authorization systems to small businesses.
Pending regulatory and shareholder approvals, the deal would boost PMT's merchant portfolio about 60%, to 88,000 accounts.
The Tennessee company will "welcome Martin Howe's experienced management team," said Richardson M. Roberts, PMT's chairman and chief executive officer.
"We expect these seasoned executives to play an important role in PMT's efforts to expand its penetration of new markets," he said.
Elsewhere, Intuit Inc., which makes the market-leading Quicken personal finance software, reported a loss of $300,000 for the quarter ended April 30.
The loss was mainly attributed to a $7 million charge against earnings for completion of the acquisition of ChipSoft Inc.
Excluding that charge, Intuit had profits of $6.7 million, or 14 cents per share, for the quarter. That would be a 7% improvement from the year- earlier period.
Operating results at the Mountain View, Calif.-based company exceeded Wall Street's expectations. Zachs Investment Research had estimated earnings of 13 cents per share.
