LV firm’s stock rises on optimistic sales report

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Thursday, March 23, 2000 | 11:18 a.m.

The stock of PurchasePro.com Inc. rose $8.22 this morning to $130.25 after the Las Vegas company said results for the quarter ending March 31 will exceed published expectations.

The business-to-business Internet commerce company is expected to lose 28 cents a share, the average estimate of six analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial.

"Our revenues are tracking significantly ahead of Wall Street's forecasts, with a high recurring component and very high gross profit margins," Chairman and Chief Executive Charles Johnson Jr. said in a statement.

Barron's this week ran a story questioning the long-term viability of fast-growing Internet companies like PurchasePro.

But PurchasePro said it has more than 20,000 members in its networks and powers more than 100 private marketplaces. And Johnson's statement said: "We have an extremely healthy balance sheet, with more than $140 million in cash on hand and no long term debt."