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Lucent connects in 3Q
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July 22, 1998: 8:35 a.m. ET
Operating earnings beat forecasts, but acquisition charges result in loss
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Lucent Technologies Inc. reported fiscal third-quarter operating earnings Wednesday well ahead of Wall Street forecasts, but posted a loss after acquisition-related charges.
The data networking and communications gear maker said its operating income more than doubled to $435 million on revenue of $7.2 billion. That amounted to 32 cents a share, well ahead of First Call estimates of 27 cents a share for the quarter.
In last year's third quarter, Lucent reported earnings of $213 million, or 17 cents a share, on $6.3 billion in revenue.
But the results exclude charges of $620 million and $48 million for the acquisitions of Yurie Systems Inc. and Germany's Optimay, respectively.
Including those charges, Lucent posted a loss of $233 million, or 17 cents a share.
Analysts had expected strong operating results from Lucent, the AT&T Corp. spin-off that has posed a major threat to such networking and telecommunications heavyweights as Cisco Systems Inc. and Northern Telecom Inc.
"There are very few companies that are $30 billion in terms of size and very liquid in terms of stock," Alex Cena, an analyst at Bear Stearns, told CNNfn Wednesday. "You have the top line growing in the mid-teens and earnings growing in excess of 25 percent. That's very difficult to find."
For the nine-month period ending June 30, Lucent said its net income jumped 52.8 percent to $1.7 billion, or $1.31 a share, from $1.1 billion, or 89 cents a share, a year earlier.
Lucent (LU) shares closed at 102-1/8, off 1/8 in Wednesday trading. 
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Lucent Technologies
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