Digital River outlook below expectations

E-commerce services provider Digital River gives profit outlook below Street forecast

• On 6:24 pm EST, Tuesday November 3, 2009

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Digital River Inc., which offers help with online sales technology, forecast fourth-quarter earnings below analysts' expectations and said it is still evaluating the impact of the loss of a key customer.

The company said Tuesday that fourth-quarter profit will range between 18 cents and 22 cents per share, or between 30 cents and 34 cents per share excluding special items and assuming a 27 percent tax rate.

Analysts, who usually exclude items from their forecasts, were expecting the company to earn 42 cents per share.

Digital River also said it expected revenue in the current quarter of $94 million to $98 million, about in line with analysts' forecast of $96.5 million.

The company said fourth-quarter revenue related to antivirus software maker Symantec to be $19 million to $22 million.

CEO Joel Ronning said the company was still evaluating Symantec's decision to stop using the company for its e-commerce needs at the end of June 2010.

For the full year, Digital River now expects to earn between $1.23 and $1.27 per share on revenue of $393 million to $397 million.

The company reported Tuesday that its third-quarter profit fell to $11 million from $15.6 million a year earlier.

Shares of Digital River rose 10 cents to $22.32 in regular trading, then fell 32 cents to $22 in extended trading after the release of financial results.

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