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Nortel fine tunes estimates
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November 1, 2000: 4:13 p.m. ET
Fourth quarter to meet estimates; 2000 Q1 seen a penny under forecast
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Nortel Networks Corp. said Wednesday it expects its fourth-quarter earnings to meet Wall Street forecasts but the company said first-quarter results will come in a penny shy of estimates.
For the December quarter, Nortel said it expects earnings of 26 cents a share fully diluted, which would match the average forecast of analysts polled by First Call. Sales for the quarter are expected to be $8.5 billion to $8.8 billion. Wall Street analysts polled by First Call had been looking for sales of $8.6 billion for the quarter.
For the first quarter of 2001, Nortel said earnings per share are expected to be 16 cents fully diluted versus forecasts of 17 cents a share, according to First Call. Sales are expected to be between $8.1 billion and $8.3 billion, the No. 2 maker of communications gear said, falling short of First Call forecasts of $8.4 billion.
Nortel said it expects optical revenue to surge more than 125 percent in 2000 to more than $10 billion.
 "We continue to expect that our percentage growth in revenue and earnings per share from operations in 2000 over 1999 will be in the low 40's," President and CEO John Roth said.
"Looking forward to 2001, we continue to expect the overall market to grow in excess of 20 percent. Given our strong market position and leadership in high performance Internet solutions, we continue to expect to
grow significantly faster than the market," Roth said.
The guidance comes a week after Nortel reported a shortfall in its third-quarter results, which sent its stock tumbling 40 percent in the month. Although the Brampton, Ontario-based networker beat Wall Street's earnings forecasts by a penny a share Tuesday, a drop in revenue sparked a sell-off in shares.
Nortel's revenue woes dragged down the entire optical networking sector, including bellwether JDS Uniphase (JDSU: Research, Estimates). However, late in the week JDSU managed to recover some losses after it posted better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter results and provided upside guidance.
In afternoon trade Wednesday, shares of Nortel (NT: Research, Estimates) fell $1.06, or 2.3 percent, to $44.44. 
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Nortel
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