Celanese, Dell, Novellus, Salesforce.com: U.S. Equity Preview

By Lu Wang

Nov. 20 (Bloomberg) -- The following companies may have unusual price changes in U.S. trading tomorrow. Stock symbols are in parentheses, and share prices are as of 5:20 p.m. in New York, unless otherwise specified.

Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures expiring in December rose 3.30, or 0.4 percent, to 751.60. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 57, or 0.8 percent, to 7,544. Nasdaq-100 Index futures added 6, or 0.6 percent, to 1,045.50.

Autodesk Inc. (ADSK US): The biggest maker of engineering- design software said fourth-quarter earnings excluding some items will be as much as 34 cents a share. That missed the 54- cent average estimate by analysts in a Bloomberg survey. The stock fell 5.8 percent to $16.82 in regular trading.

Celanese Corp. (CE US) fell 96 cents, or 11 percent, to $7.50 in trading after the official close of exchanges. The world's largest producer of chemicals called acetyls said profit for 2008 will be less than the company previously forecast because customers are purchasing less.

Dell Inc. (DELL US) rose 63 cents, or 6.4 percent, to $10.44. The world's second-largest computer maker posted third- quarter profit that beat analysts' estimates as Chief Executive Officer Michael Dell cut jobs and switched to cheaper production methods.

New York Times Co. (NYT US): The newspaper publisher cut its quarterly dividend 74 percent to 6 cents a share, saying the reduction will give the company greater financial flexibility. The stock dropped 9.9 percent to $5.72 in regular trading.

Novellus Systems Inc. (NVLS US) fell 41 cents, or 3.9 percent, to $10.21. The maker of equipment that helps turn silicon wafers into computer chips said fourth-quarter orders will fall more than previously forecast.

Salesforce.com Inc. (CRM US) rose $1.27, or 5.6 percent, to $24.10. The top seller of Internet-based customer-management software reported a bigger-than-expected 55 percent increase in third-quarter profit after adding customers.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lu Wang in New York at lwang8@bloomberg.net