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Nortel says 4Q on track
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November 20, 2000: 6:58 p.m. ET
Networking equipment maker expects to meet current targets
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Nortel Networks on Monday gave investors a preview of what they can expect to hear when the company hosts its annual analyst conference Tuesday morning.
In a press release issued late Monday evening, the company said it is on track to post fourth-quarter earnings of 26 cents per share on sales of between $8.5 billion and $8.8 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 40s," said Nortel president and chief executive John Roth.
"Overall, we expect continued strong growth in optical Internet, wireless Internet, local Internet and eBusiness solutions," Roth added. "We continue to expect our optical Internet revenues to grow in excess of 125 percent in 2000 over 1999, to exceed $10 billion."
 Roth made those comments on the eve of the company's annual investor conference, which it is hosting in Boston on Tuesday. During the conference, portions of which will be available on the Internet, the company said it will emphasize gains in customers and market share for the equipment it makes that is used to build out the Internet infrastructure.
Nortel executives also are expected to emphasize that they expect the company to continue to grow faster than the market by focusing on high-growth areas, driving profitability and streamlining operations for efficiencies.
Shares of Nortel (NT: Research, Estimates) rose $1.19 to $35.25 in New York Stock Exchange trade Monday. Even so, the company's stock is more than 59 percent below its 12-month high of $86 reached early last summer.
The company's stock, as well as the stocks of several other suppliers of data networking equipment, has been under pressure in recent weeks amid mounting concerns of slowing growth of equipment to small telecommunications companies as well as a glut of inventory in the distribution channel for optical networking systems. 
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