Ebb & Flow

Wall Street expects companies to provide guidance on revenues. But if it's hard to forecast product sales precisely, it's even more difficult to predict partnership deal flow. Toolkit companies found out the hard way by having to ratchet back revenue guidance when a significant deal or two could not be signed.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Last week, Millennium (MLNM) reduced its 2003 revenue guidance, in part due to a smaller than expected contribution from partner revenues. The reduction is the second time MLNM has scaled back its prognostications on collaborative revenue in the past 12 months...