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Not a good morning for Digital River (DRIV) holders. Shares of the e-commerce software provider are under assault this morning, after Stanford Group analyst Rod Ratliff cut his rating on the stock to Sell from Hold, slicing his price target to $17, from $26. Ratliff trimmed his 2008 EPS estimate to $1.83, from $1.84, while reducing his ‘09 forecast to $1.83, from $2.15.

“Data from several sources indicates that the fundamental environment in key industry verticals for Digital River has likely deteriorated further since the company announced Q3 results and reduced its outlook,” Ratliff writes

Filed under: Earnings reports, Analyst reports, Bad news, Symantec Corp (SYMC), Technology, NASDAQ

This post was written by Minyanville contributor Adam Katz.

Regarding Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC) earnings, the company is having a tough time in this environment for several reasons. First, its consumer business saw a massive slowdown starting in September. Digital River, Inc. (NASDAQ: DRIV) reported earnings a day before SYMC and tipped the hand of SYMC's consumer business stating that its core business grew 27% sans SYMC, yet the business overall grew at 17% YoY.

Secondly, currency he

Digital River (DRIV) shares are trading lower today on disappointing third quarter results and weaker-than-expected guidance for the fourth quarter.

The company, which manages online retailing for software publishers and other companies, posted Q3 revenue of $96.3 million and non-GAAP profits of 46 cents a share; the Street had expected $98.4 million and 46 cents.

Digital River, which noted in a statement that there was “a sudden decline in consumer spending beginning in mid-September,” sees Q4 revenue of $94 million to $97 million, with non-GAAP profits of 43-48 cents a share. The Street had

The Street’s assault on the software sector continues unabated. Thomas Weisel Partners analyst Tim Klasell this morning downgraded the infrastructure software sector to Neutral from Favorable, slashing estimate on a host of companies in the progress,

Companies affected by his estimate reductions include Akamai (AKAM), BMC Software (BMC), Citrix (CTXS), CommVault (CVLT), Digital River (DRIV), Double-Take (DBTK), McAfee (MFE), Microsoft (MSFT), Oracle (ORCL), Quest Software (QSFT), Red Hat (RHT), Symantec (SYMC), Tibco (TIBX) and VMware (VMW). He also reduced price targets of most of those com

In the latest wholesale assault on the near-term prospects for the software sector, Goldman Sachs analysts Sarah Friar, Sasa Zorovic, Derek Bingham and Frederick Grieb issued a joint report today in which they slash earnings estimates and price targets for a variety of software stocks. The Goldman analysts also make some noteworthy (and market moving) rating changes. The moves start from fresh worries about the macro picture. “A difficult U.S. macro environment and contagion internationally creates issues for the group, and the final few days of Q3 seemed particularly difficult,” they write