|
JDS Uniphase beats Street
|
 |
July 26, 2000: 6:26 p.m. ET
Fiber-optic networking components supplier beats consensus by 2 cents
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - JDS Uniphase Corp. turned in a fiscal fourth quarter operating profit Wednesday that beat Wall Street's expectations as soaring demand for its products led to a 173 percent rise in sales.
Investors, however, sold off the stock, which also was listed for the first time on the Standard & Poor's 500 index, in after-hours trade.
JDS (JDSU: Research, Estimates) shares, which were the most actively traded on Nasdaq Wednesday, rose 5-13/16 to 136, a 4.6 percent gain in the regular session. They fell 5-5/8 to 130-3/8 in after-hours trade on continued heavy volume.
After the closing bell, JDS, the world's leading supplier of components used in fiber-optic communications networks, said it earned $114 million or 14 cents per share, excluding merger-related and other special charges.
That was two pennies ahead of the 12 cents per share analysts polled by earnings tracker First Call had expected the company to report.
Revenue for the quarter was $524 million, up 173 percent from the same period last year.
For the year-ago comparison revenue figure, the company combined the separately reported results of JDS Fitel Inc. and Uniphase Corp., which merged in on June 30, 1999, to create the current company.
The most recent quarter's results included those of Epitaxx Inc., Sifam Ltd., Optical Coating Laboratory Inc., Cronos Integrated Microsystems, Inc. and Fujian Casix Laser Inc., all of which were acquired on November 15, 1999.
However, the report does not account for E-TEK Dynamics Inc., which the company acquired June 30. Those results were broken out separately.
Accounting for merger-related and other charges, JDS Uniphase reported a net loss of $419 million, or 54 cents per share, for the quarter. For all of fiscal 2000, the company's net loss was $905 million, or $1.26 per share.
The San Jose, Calif.-based company has been on an acquisition tear recently. Earlier this month, JDS said it would buy rival fiber-optic components maker SDL Inc. for $41 billion in stock, marking the largest ever merger in the industry.
 The company's stock has been one of the highest flyers on Wall Street as well. JDS shares have ranged between a low of 19-15/16 and a high of 153-3/8 over the past 12 months.
Shares ran up particularly sharply this month after Standard & Poor's said it would list the stock on the closely mirrored S&P 500 index. Demand for a stock typically increases after it is included in the S&P 500 because many institutional funds use it as a benchmark and will buy the stock in order to match or exceed the index's performance.
JDS shares also were boosted in Wednesday's session on the heels of a strong earnings report from Nortel Networks, one of its largest customers.
Given the stock's recent performance and its current valuation, a sell-off after the earnings report is not that surprising, according to Brian Finnerty, head of Nasdaq trading at C.E. Unterberg Towbin
"When they announced it was going into the S&P, it ran up dramatically and held up," Finnerty said in an interview on CNNfn's Street Sweep Wednesday. "I think it's normal to get a little profit taking, even though the number was good."
E-TEK sales, earnings also rise
E-TEK Dynamics Inc., which JDS took into its fold on June 30, also posted higher sales and earnings for the quarter. JDS bought E-TEK, which had been its largest competitor, for $15 billion.
During the three-month period ended June 30, E-TEK posted operating earnings of $23 million or 32 cents per diluted share, excluding one-time items, beating the 26 cents per share analysts polled by First Call had expected.
E-TEK's revenue for the quarter was $123 million, a 138 percent increase from $52 million during the same period last year.
For the fiscal year ended June 30, E-TEK's operating income was $66 million or 95 cents per share, an increase of 118% from the $30 million or 49 cents per share earned in the prior year. Sales for fiscal 2000 of $346 million were 101% above sales for fiscal 1999. 
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
