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Lucent net doubles in 2Q
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April 22, 1999: 8:56 a.m. ET
Results beat Wall Street expectations by a penny as revenue rises 33 %
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Lucent Technologies said Thursday its fiscal second-quarter net income doubled on the strength of a 33 percent gain in revenue.
The high-tech equipment maker said net income for the quarter ended March 31 totaled $457 million, or 17 cents per share, compared with $186 million, or 7 cents a share, in the year-ago period.
Including acquisitions, net income totaled $442 million, or 16 cents per diluted share. That compares with income of $29 million, or 1 cent a share in the year-ago period.
The latest results beat Wall Street predictions slightly. Analysts polled by the First Call Corp. had estimated profit of 15 cents a share.
Lucent (LU) said revenue totaled $8.220 billion, up from $6.184 billion a year ago.
Revenue was the number to watch, because it was disturbingly low in the first quarter, said Gregory Geiling, telecom equipment analyst at J.P. Morgan Securities.
"The real focus, though, is going to be on the revenue line this quarter," he told CNN. "The revenue is the real disappointment in December. The revenues only grew about 5.5 percent."
On an operating basis, income totaled $835 million, up from $315 million a year ago, the company said.
For the first six months of the fiscal year, net income grew 41.4 percent to $1.899 billion, or 69 cents per share, excluding one-time events. Revenue totaled $17.484 billion, an increase of 17 percent.
The company is on target to increase revenue by 19 percent to 20 percent in fiscal 1999 and earnings per share by about 35 percent, CEO Richard McGinn said.
"This was an extremely strong quarter for Lucent both inside and outside the U.S. and across our businesses as the company added more than $2 billion to the top line," McGinn said.
The Murray Hill, N.J.-based company also announced plans to sell its U.S. sales group aimed at small and mid-sized businesses to a newly-formed company led by Susan Mandl, the current chief executive of Newcourt Communications Finance. Terms of the sale weren't disclosed.
Lucent shares were up 4-7/8 to close at 59-1/8 on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday. 
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Lucent Technologies
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