Harbinger Corp., an Atlanta-based company that sells software and electronic data interchange services to banks and corporations, has the dubious distinction of having missed its revenue targets for this year's second quarter twice.
On July 7, Harbinger said revenues would total about $35 million, 5% less than the $37 million expected by Wall Street. It also advised investors to shave 2 cents from earnings forecasts of about 12 cents per share.
But Harbinger fell short of even those lowered expectations, posting revenues of $34.3 million.
The company did manage to hit its revised per-share earnings estimate of 10 cents, but analyst Gary Craft said it did so by keeping research and development expenditures "abnormally low."
"It was like two misses in one quarter, which is kind of unheard of," said Mr. Craft, an analyst at BancAmerica Robertson Stephens.
Harbinger has been moving its electronic data interchange services, offered over private networks, to the Internet.
The shift is causing investors and analysts to question the company's place in the emerging Internet commerce market, Mr. Craft said.
"Going from an electronic data interchange network business to Internet commerce may be a tough transition," he said.
The July 7 announcement knocked Harbinger's stock down $6.125, to $14.75. It sank to $11 after the actual earnings were reported.
Shares fell further Friday, closing at $8.65.
-Steven Marjanovic
