<BREAKFAST WITH THE FOOL>
Friday, October 30, 1998

"Time is the friend of the wonderful business, the enemy of the mediocre." -- Warren Buffett

Latest Market Numbers

Infoseek-ing Profits

Halloween is tomorrow, but today could end up being a scary day for Internet content integrator, aggregator, and disseminator Infoseek Corp. (Nasdaq: SEEK). The "portal" company reported a Q3 loss of $0.08 per share compared to last year's $0.19 per share loss, which was a bit worse than the $0.06 per share loss expected by analysts surveyed by First Call. The results include $1.4 million in expenses related to the company's integration with Starwave, which is the Web production unit of major stakeholder Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS).

On the bright side of things, revenues in the quarter more than doubled to $19.2 million, while average daily pageviews increased 5% to 21.4 million per day in September from 20.3 million per day in June. In comparison, rival Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) recently reported a 25% jump in average daily pageviews to 144 million per day at its site during the same period. Excite (Nasdaq: XCIT) said its average daily pageviews increased 15% to 50 million per day between June and September. Meanwhile, average daily pageviews from Starwave's joint ventures with the popular ESPN.com and ABCNEWS.com websites increased 42% during the same span to 17 million per day, according to Infoseek.

Since Disney acquired its 43% interest in Infoseek in June, investors and analysts alike have been expecting great things from the company. As Infoseek CEO Harry Motro has said, some 500 million people around the world use a Disney product every day. However, it appears that Infoseek's main challenge of finding ways to attract new users online continues to nag the company, despite the millions of Disney fans.

News to Go

Information technology services firm Electronic Data Systems (NYSE: EDS) reported Q3 EPS of $0.44, down from the $0.50 earned a year ago but well ahead of the First Call mean estimate of $0.34. The company said it signed about $2.8 billion worth of new contracts in the period, which helped offset a 2% year-over-year decline in revenues from largest client General Motors (NYSE: GM) to $1.03 billion.

Oilfield products and services provider Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) reported Q3 EPS of $0.44 (before merger-related charges) versus $0.50 last year, topping the Street's mean estimate by $0.03. Total revenues eked up 1% in the quarter to $4.2 billion, while the firm's Energy Services Group posted flat year-over-year results.

Coffeehouse operator Starbucks Corp. (Nasdaq: SBUX) reported a 5% increase in October same-store sales compared to the same month a year ago. Net revenues in the month jumped 29% to $109 million from $84 million last year.

Joseph Hutts, the CEO of physician practice management company PhyCor Inc. (Nasdaq: PHYC), told The Wall Street Journal that he has received "about half a dozen" offers from investment firms and others to possibly take the company private, based in part on the firm's historically low stock price. "We're listening," he said, "but we're not anywhere close to having serious discussions with anybody."

Earnings Announcements:

Allmerica Financial Corp. (NYSE: AFC) -- Q3 operating EPS: $0.72 (excluding gains, losses, and charges) vs. $0.90 last year; Estimate: $0.78
Business Objects (Nasdaq: BOBJY) -- Q3 EPS: $0.13 vs. $0.01 last year; Estimate: $0.11
Fair Isaac & Co. (NYSE: FIC) -- fiscal Q4 EPS: $0.59 vs. $0.44 last year; Estimate: $0.48
Jacor Communications (Nasdaq: JCOR) -- Q3 EPS: $0.08 (excluding charges and tax effects) vs. $0.01 last year; Estimate: $0.07
Kimco Realty Corp. (NYSE: KIM) -- Q3 FFO: $0.77 vs. $0.65 last year; Estimate: $0.76
Life Re Corp. (NYSE: LRE) -- Q3 EPS: $0.99 (excluding gains and charges) vs. $0.85 last year; Estimate: $0.99
MicroStrategy Inc. (Nasdaq: MSTR) -- Q3 EPS: $0.05 vs. $0.02 last year; Estimate: $0.04
MRV Communications (Nasdaq: MRVC) -- Q3 EPS: $0.06 vs. $0.23 last year; Estimate: $0.12
Nationwide Financial Services (NYSE: NFS) -- Q3 EPS: $0.63 (excluding investment losses) vs. $0.52 last year; Estimate: $0.63
The North Face (Nasdaq: TNFI) -- Q3 EPS: $0.95 (excluding charges) vs. $0.92 last year; Estimate: $1.03
Premiere Technologies (Nasdaq: PTEK) -- Q3 EPS: $0.05 vs. $0.23 (excluding charges) last year; Estimate: $0.05
W.R. Berkley Corp. (Nasdaq: BKLY) -- Q3 EPS: $0.30 (excluding gain) vs. $0.67 last year; Estimate: $0.46

More Foolishness

It's nearly Halloween, Fools. But before pigging out on candy, read about some bewitching and ghastly companies in The Motley Ghoul... Speaking of candy, Alex Schay takes a look at Hershey Foods and other packaged foods companies in the Fool on the Hill... Shareholders have nothing to be scared about with Peco Energy, our latest Daily Double... There's nothing more frightening than insurance, right? Overcome your fears with some lessons in Fools & Their Money.
-- Thursday's Evening News
-- Fool Community
-- This Day in Wall Street History

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Brian "Brain Dead" Graney (TMF Panic), Writer
Jennifer "Chainsaw" Silber (TMF Amused), Editor

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