| NEW YORK -DJ- Shares of Gupta Corp. (GPTA) are up 11% after Hambrecht &
Quist told clients that the company's second-quarter appears to be on
track.
Analyst J. Neil Weintraut says he looks for earnings of 6 cents a share
on revenues of $12.8 million, up from 2 cents a share on sales of $7.5
million in the year-ago second quarter.
Weintraut says he also cited indications Gupta is hiring direct sales
staff ahead of its plan - a sign the company is increasingly successful
in penetrating larger-scale sales to corporate accounts.
Gupta's shares are up 2 1/2, or 11.4%, at 24 1/2 on NASDAQ volume of
730,300, compared with average daily turnover of 124,600.
The trading activity also might reflect a ''short squeeze,'' or
panicked buying by short sellers who had borrowed and sold Gupta's
stock in hopes its price would fall.
Gupta's stock has been under pressure recently. It traded as low as 14
1/2 in mid-June, a 55% drop from its high in February, which followed
Gupta's initial public offering amid a market frenzy over so-called
client-server technology companies.
Gupta markets database, programmer tool and connectivity software. H&Q
comanaged the company's IPO.
Weintraut says the weakness in Gupta's stock reflected the general
slump in technology shares as well as concerns spawned by the recent
alliance of Novell Inc. (NOVL) with Oracle Corp. (ORCL).
As reported, Novell agreed to package its Netware operating system for
computer networks with Oracle's relational database. Novell also has a
marketing arrangement with Gupta.
Separately, Gupta and Platinum Technology Inc. (PLAT) announced they
have signed a joint sales and marketing agreement.
(END) DOW JONES NEWS 07-14-93
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