Novell shares drop 17% after quarter forecast falls short

Shares of Novell Inc., a seller of computer network software and consulting services that has about 1,800 employees in Provo, fell the most in more than five years Friday after the company's profit forecast fell short of analysts' estimates.

Novell declined $1.63, or 17 percent, to $7.90 in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading, the biggest drop since November 2000. They had surged 81 percent in the past year before Friday.

Novell forecasts second-quarter profit, excluding stock-based compensation costs, of 2 cents to 3 cents a share, below the 4-cent average estimate of 12 analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

The company will have higher marketing and compensation expenses in the period, Chief Financial Officer Joe Tibbetts said Thursday in an interview.

First-quarter net income totaled $1.87 million, or breakeven on a per-share basis, compared with $395.2 million, or 90 cents, a year earlier, when results were inflated by a $477.6 million gain from a legal settlement with Microsoft Corp., Waltham, Massachusetts-based Novell said.