FOOL ON THE HILL An Investment Opinion
Copper Mountain Low
By Bill Mann (TMF Otter)

Most companies are not known for telling it like it is. Rather, there is a significant tendency among them to "spin" news in a positive light to ensure the company's message gets out. But sometimes a company has an opportunity to tell the truth to its shareholders and it does not. DSL equipment manufacturer Copper Mountain's CEO Rick Gilbert appeared on a Motley Fool-featured interview recently and intimated that the company would grow at 10-15%. This week the company warned that its sales would shrink by 35% next quarter and its earnings next year would be up to 80% below current expectations.
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Coke Needs to Sparkle, Not Perform
By Richard McCaffery (TMF Gibson)

Coke reported decent revenue growth and good volume in the third quarter, but it's shares are richly priced for a company with 18% worldwide marketshare in an industry that grew just 2% last year. For the last 10 years, Coke's unit case growth has paced the industry's, an unremarkable feat.
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RULE MAKER PORTFOLIO A QuickNews Extra
Unanswered Questions at Microsoft
By Richard McCaffery (TMF Gibson)

We like Microsoft's sales growth, and can even forgive its rising operating expenses that caused a decline in operating income. Microsoft's Windows 2000 is selling crisply, and Windows Me is gaining traction as well. But we still don't know what to think of this company's Internet strategy, or how to assess the threat from Linux.
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FOOL PLATE SPECIAL An Investment Opinion
Research in Motion Sickness?
By David Forrest (TMF Bogey)

At Research in Motion's current valuation, the maker of the Blackberry wireless email may not allow its hot stock much room for missteps. Though Blackberry's cool, the company still faces an uphill battle in the tough personal digital assistant market with a number of foes watching its moves carefully.
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Ericsson: Losing the Mobile Phone Race
By Bill Mann (TMF Otter)

A day after Nokia dazzled the market with its earnings and projections, Ericsson released a dour view of the mobile phone market, with slowing sales and negative margins. At the same time, Ericsson's infrastructure division, the larger part of its business, sparkled. It seems the Nokia report came at the nick of time to rescue investor sentiment, since Ericsson's report mirrored that of Motorola, the third of the "big three" mobile phone producers. But unlike Motorola, Ericsson is not moving away from handset sales.
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eBay Records Stellar Q3
By Rex Moore

While bears can point at eBay's high valuation, long-term investors who bought the company because of the business model and the future potential of the industry should be quite pleased with management's execution thus far. The company's singular focus and willingness to battle for key markets -- along with its third-quarter financial report -- pleased at least one Fool today.
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BREAKFAST WITH THE FOOL
Commerce One Reports Q3
By Mike Trigg (TMF Tonto)

Internet marketplace software provider Commerce One reported impressive third-quarter results after the market's close yesterday, highlighted by new customer additions and the signing of several global mega-exchanges. The announcement came one day after business-to-business juggernaut Ariba declared its own results, becoming the first B2B company to report a breakeven quarter.
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Today's Market Movers

We've got brand-new pages that are chock-full of information about the Computer Hardware and Biotech sectors. Check 'em out!

Ups

Fiber optic equipment maker Corvis (Nasdaq: CORV) zoomed ahead $7.53 to $67.13 today on news of better-than-expected fiscal third-quarter earnings. The company reported a pro forma loss, excluding goodwill expense and equity-based pay, of $23.9 million, or $0.07 per share. The Street consensus called for a loss of $0.09 per share. Revenue came in at $22.9 million. The company still relies heavily on Broadwing (NYSE: BRW), which began commercial deployment of Corvis' suite of optical products in the quarter.

Diversified aerospace, automotive, and control technologies products maker Honeywell (NYSE: HON) closed up $10.13 at $46 after an eventful day of trading. This morning, word got out that the company was in merger talks with fellow conglomerate United Technologies (NYSE: UTX). By the end of the day, however, both companies had admitted in separate press releases that the talks were off, with United Technologies citing that Honeywell had received "an alternative merger proposal." For its part, United Technologies ended the day down $3 at $65.

Voice recognition software provider SpeechWorks (Nasdaq: SPWX) added $4.56 to $85.56 as third-quarter revenues improved nearly threefold year-over-year and earnings exceeded Street expectations. The Boston-based company reported a loss, excluding charges, of $5.4 million, or $0.20 per share, compared to a pro forma loss of $3.7 million, or $0.19 per share, in the same period last year. The Street consensus forecasted a loss of $0.23 per share. The company reported revenue of $8.6 million, a 237% year-over-year increase.

Customer relationship management (CRM) software developer Kana Communications (Nasdaq: KANA) rose $6.94 to $26.06 following last night's announcement of Q3 pro forma losses of $0.22, a penny better than Wall Street expected. Revenues rose 59% sequentially to $40.6 million.

Streaming media leader RealNetworks (Nasdaq: RNWK), its earnings covered here earlier this week, tuned in $3 to $22 today on news of an agreement by which IBM (NYSE: IBM) will make RealNetworks' RealSystem streaming media software available for its UNIX server line. Financial terms of the deal weren't disclosed.

Downs

Web-hosting giant Exodus Communications (Nasdaq: EXDS) lost $4.50 to $33.56 today. The company reported a Q3 per-share loss of $0.14, worse than last year's $0.09 but ahead of Wall Street's $0.18 consensus estimate. The company pointed investors toward a Q4 loss of $0.15 per share, give or take a penny. Wall Street is currently looking for an $0.18 per-share loss. The famed George Gilder recently said nice things about the stock in his eponymous report, which is known to move stocks.

E-commerce integration software company Mercator (Nasdaq: MCTR) continued its slump today, dumping $7.66 to $4.59 on news that Q3 losses were $0.14 per share, a nickel worse then expected. Several analysts downgraded the company, which restated first-half revenues in August but reportedly didn't issue any new earnings guidance, no doubt exacerbating the slide.

Home electronics and used cars retailer Circuit City (NYSE: CC) was shocked for a loss of $7.63 to $13.18 after the company said widespread weakness in home electronics demand hurt sales and will likely pull Q3 results to a loss of between $0.05 and $0.10 per share. Wall Street was looking for a profit of $0.16 per share. The company said earnings would have come in between $0.13 and $0.18 per share if not for remodeling costs, markdowns, and "sales disruptions." Either way, earnings will miss last year's $0.27 mark.

Online homebuying site network operator Homestore.com (Nasdaq: HOMS) retreated $3.38 to $26 today. The company said it turned in pro forma -- before non-cash charges for amortization of intangible assets, stock-based charges, in-process research and development, and a litigation settlement -- net income of $0.01 per share, two cents better than expected. The after-charge number was a loss of $0.33 per share, but at least three analysts got behind the stock today.

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