INTERNET SECTOR SURVIVES SLUMP IN SOFTWARE SALES

By Mark Boslet Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal NEW YORK -- Slowing sales may be plaguing some areas of the software industry, but products and services in the Internet market are still selling well, analysts said. While the market for browser and server software remained healthy during the second quarter, some slowing appeared to afflict subscriptions at proprietary on-line service providers, such as America Online Inc., analysts said. Overall, Internet companies haven't seen a slowdown in growth rates, despite the lagging personal-computer market and the less-exciting fortunes of PC software makers such as Macromedia Inc., said Laidlaw Equities analyst Tarun Chandra. The San Francisco company said last week that first-quarter income would come in at the low end of analysts' estimates because of weak demand for Macintosh software. Industry leader Netscape Communications Corp. is expected to report a good quarter, riding continued upbeat sales of its server and browser software, said Alex. Brown & Sons analyst Mary A. McCaffrey. She estimates the Mountain View, Calif., company earned six cents a share in the second quarter on revenue of at least $60.5 million, compared with a year-earlier loss equivalent to four cents a share on revenue of $12.6 million. Another company benefiting from the continuing demand for browsers and servers is Spyglass Inc. Mr. Chandra said he excepts the Waltham, Mass., company to post earnings of six cents a share on revenue of $5.2 million for its fiscal third quarter. The estimate compares with nine cents for the year-earlier quarter -- unadjusted for a 2-for-1 split in December 1995. Spyglass, which licenses browser and server technology that customers build into their own products, has better positioned itself in the market by breaking its software into components that give customers greater flexibility, Mr. Chandra said. For companies providing consumer and business access to the Internet, market fundamentals are still strong, said Timothy W. Summers, an analyst at Principal Financial Securities. Netcom On-Line Communication Services Inc. saw its subscriber rolls grow to 479,000 for the second quarter, an increase from 400,000 in early April. Mr. Summers expects revenue for the quarter to have climbed to $29.3 million, nearly triple the year-earlier figure of $10.5 million. However, the San Jose, Calif., company should post a loss of 88 cents a share because of its efforts to expand abroad, Mr. Summers said. The expansion spending put a hit on margins, he said. In the year-earlier quarter, the company had a loss of 37 cents. Meanwhile, America Online probably found subscriber growth harder to come by during its fiscal fourth quarter, said Abhishek Gami, an analyst at Nesbitt Burns. Mr. Gami estimates the nation's largest on-line service had 6.2 million world-wide subscribers at the June quarter's end, which includes six million in the important U.S. market. The Vienna, Va., concern had 5.5 million subscribers at the end of the March quarter. The fiscal fourth-quarter rise of 700,000 compares with an increase of 905,000 in the third quarter. Mr. Gami expects America Online to report revenue of $365 million for the fourth quarter compared with $152 million a year earlier. He estimates earnings of 18 cents a share, which doesn't include the financial impact of settling 11 class-action suits. A preliminary settlement of the suits was reported last Monday. The earnings compare with 13 cents a year earlier, which includes a charge but not a 2-for-1 stock split in November 1995.