Engage, an Andover, Mass., online advertiser struggling for survival, said it will lose up to $55 million in the second quarter -- significantly more than analysts expected.

In a conference call with analysts, company execs said they anticipate losses up to $55 million, or 28 cents per share, in the quarter ending Jan. 31. The figure doesn't include nearly $5 million in restructuring costs. Analysts polled by First Call had forecast a loss of 19 cents per share.

Revenues for the period will be approximately $25 million, well below the $60 million the company raked in just six months ago.

CEO Tony Nuzzo, on the job less than two months, declined to give guidance for quarters further out, although he stressed that the $86 million in cash the company had as of Dec. 31 is enough to "get it to profitability."

Earlier in the month, when Nuzzo announced layoffs of half the Engage staff, he predicted the company would break even by fall.

"We don't want to go beyond the current quarter because we are in the middle of a restructuring," Nuzzo told frustrated analysts on a conference call after markets closed Wednesday.

The company, which is majority owned by Internet holding company CMGI, also of Andover, has been hard hit by the general slowdown in Internet advertising. It also may have grown too quickly, snapping up companies and their employees and running too deeply in the red.

To right the ship, Nuzzo has acted quickly -- cutting staff and renegotiating contracts with customers to improve margins. He has also put new stress on the company's software sales, de-emphasizing online ad sales that have heretofore been its stock in trade.

Analysts hoping to get more insight about the company's longer-term prospects were left with no answers.

Nuzzo often repeated that he'd only been in charge for "39 business days," refusing to predict how Engage will perform in the coming months -- beyond repeating that it should reach profitability before its cash runs out.

"Our commitment is to build a viable long-term business, and I believe unequivocally that that's attainable," the CEO said. "But at the end of 39 business days, I can only give you so much long-term guidance with confidence. These (restructuring) changes will take time to take hold. I ask you to bear with us."

As of Dec. 31, Engage had $86 million in cash and cash equivalents, it said.

The $55 million loss predicted for the second quarter doesn't include another $4 million or so in cash charges to be incurred as a result of the restructuring. That's about one-fifth of a total of $17-20 million in cash charges, with the rest to be spread into future quarters.

Engage will also take a non-cash restructuring charge of $23-25 million.

Asked why revenues have dropped from around $60 million to $25 million in six months, Nuzzo cited the crash in online media spending. He also alluded, albeit obliquely, to the company's newly stripped-down structure, implying that previous management was out of touch with the market, sheltered by too many layers of bureaucracy.

Asked about technology clients who have left Engage to go to competitor DoubleClick, including portal Terra Lycos , Nuzzo said, "We prefer not to put this in the context of a 2-horse race. When we combine our synchronized multi-channel marketing as well as our online products, we think we stack up well against anyone. But we'd rather not get into who won this or that (account) at this point."

Earlier Wednesday, Engage stock zipped up on a deal to provide Fuji with software for its customer Web site.

Engage declined to give the value of the contract but hailed it as an example of its newly diversified business model.

Shares of ENGA shot up 0.875, or 44 percent, to 2.875. Its parent, CMGI, gained 0.56, or 8 percent, to 7.25.