Accuray and Winn-Dixie Losing Ground

Shares of Accuray Incorporated (NASDAQ:ARAY) have tumbled down today -12% with a big gap down at the open.  Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:WINN) are following suit, down -7% today as the sellers are out in force.

Accuray Inc's (ARAY) fourth-quarter profit missed analysts' expectations by a penny, and the company forecast first-quarter and 2010 revenue below Wall Street estimates, sending its shares down as much as 12% today.  During the fourth quarter, the medical equipment maker added 15 CyberKnife robotic radiosurgery system agreements to backlog, out of which eight were from international customers.

CyberKnife, which is used to treat tumors, costs upward of $4 million. The company said the U.S. market remained steady but cautious with hospital customers continuing to carefully evaluate capital purchases.

Accuray said its international business remained strong and it expects those markets to remain robust.

Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:WINN) shares fell today after the supermarket chain's better-than-expected fiscal fourth quarter was overshadowed by comments made by executives that the start of the 2010 fiscal year hasn't been all they had hoped it would be.

The per-share earnings were better than the Street had been predicting and Winn-Dixie reiterated its 2010 guidance for same-store sales to rise 1% to 2%.  But Tuesday morning, on a conference call with analysts, Chairman and Chief Executive Peter Lynch sounded a more cautious tone. Calling the sales soft, he warned the economic repercussions were still being felt and could potentially make for a disappointing year.

"I'm concerned about trends on the weekends, and I'm concerned about trends at the end of the month," Lynch said on the call, according to a transcript from FactSet Research. "It seems to be harder and harder for the consumers to come up with some extra change at the end of the month. So, I'm not changing the guidance although I'm suggesting that if this continues, it could put us at the lower end."

The warning sent the shares back into the red after briefly trading above the 52-week high in after-hours movement Monday. The shares have still nearly doubled since a March low of $8.09 and have enjoyed a strong climb recently.

Note: No holdings in ARAY or WINN.

SOURCE:http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090825-712005.html