Phoenix Technologies fall on weak 2Q sales

The company's shares fell $1.83, or 11.9 percent, to $13.46 in afternoon trading. They have traded in the last year between $6.94 and $17.60.

The company's loss narrowed to $1.4 million, or 5 cents per share, from $6 million, or 23 cents per share, in 2007.

Excluding one-time costs and gains, it made a profit or 8 cents per share, compared with a loss of 13 cents per share last year.

Sales rose to $14.8 million from $7.5 million in 2007.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected profit of 1 cent per share on sales of $17.4 million.

Roth Capital Partners analyst Nathan Schneiderman described the company's second-quarter results as "mixed," with sales below his estimate and earnings per share above his estimate and that of other Wall Street estimates.

He maintained his "Buy" rating and $19 price target.

The target price represents a 41.2 percent premium on Tuesday afternoon's trading price.

Milpitas, Calif.-based Phoenix makes basic input/output systems, or BIOS, that load a computer's operating system each time the machine is turned on.