Briefs

SAN MATEO, Calif., Jan 24 (Reuters) - Sales and marketing software maker E.piphany Inc. on Thursday reported a fourth-quarter loss that was larger than a year ago, reflecting soft corporate technology spending, but its results beat Wall Street estimates.

Revenue fell to $28 million from $49.2 million.

Excluding charges like restructuring costs, the company had a loss of $8.9 million, or 13 cents a share, compared with the year-ago loss of $5.2 million, or 8 cents a share. However, the company's net loss, including the charges, shrank drastically, to $36.8 million, or 53 cents a share, compared to a loss of $276.7 million, or $4.26 a share, a year earlier.

Analysts, on average, had expected the company to lose 17 cents a share on revenue of $27.6 million, according to tracking firm Thomson Financial/First Call.

CEO Roger Siboni said that he expects to achieve a profit by the end of 2002. That view was not shared by the analysts.

See http://news.cnet.com/investor/news/newsitem/0-9900-1028-8596764-0.html?tag=ats