Shares of Irvine’s Epicor Software Corp., a maker of business software, slumped Thursday after the company cut its yearly outlook on weaker-than-expected first quarter results.
The stock fell nearly 27% in early midday New York trading on a recent market value of about $460 million.
Epicor expects 2008 revenue of $536 million to $544 million, down from its original outlook of $545 million to $555 million in sales.
Analysts were looking for $549 million in revenue.
Epicor expects profits of roughly $54 million to $56 million, down from its previous outlook of $60 million to $62 million.
Analysts were expecting $60 million in profits.
The revised outlook doesn’t include an expected write-down of $7 million to $8 million in deferred revenue from its $314 million buy of Britain’s NSB Retail Systems PLC last year, the company said.
The company cut its yearly guidance based on an initial look at first-quarter results.
Epicor is set to give first-quarter results on April 29.
Analysts are looking for first quarter profits of about $10 million on sales of $114 million.
The company said early results show first-quarter sales and earnings are likely to fall short of Wall Street’s expectations on lower than expected revenue from software licenses and consulting work and slimmer profits.
There were some other issues during the quarter. Epicor said it had to discount work on a large consulting project.
