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JDS posts big loss, warns
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July 26, 2001: 4:57 p.m. ET
Fiber-optics maker posts $7.9B 4Q loss, sets 7,000 more job cuts
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Fiber-optic component maker JDS Uniphase Corp. on Thursday posted a $7.9 billion loss for its fiscal fourth quarter and a staggering $50.6 billion loss for the year, and said it will cut another 7,000 jobs.
For its fiscal fourth quarter, JDS (JDSU: down $1.03 to $8.44, Research, Estimates) reported a profit, excluding a slew of extraordinary charges, of 2 cents per share, compared with a profit of 14 cents per share a year earlier.
Earnings tracker First Call expected a 3-cent per share profit for the quarter.
Including goodwill reductions and other charges, the company reported a loss for the quarter of $7.9 billion, or $5.99 per share, and a loss of $50.6 billion, or $46.30 a share, for the fiscal year.
Revenue in the quarter rose 15 percent to $601 million while sales for the year were up 126 percent to $3.2 billion.
Shares of JDS had surged 7.7 percent to $9.47 in regular trading Thursday. But in after-hours trading on Instinet, they dropped $1.47 to $8.
"Fiscal year 2001 began as a period of rapid expansion for JDS Uniphase but concluded with a severe industry downturn," said JDS Co-Chairman and CEO Jozef Straus.
"Our response to this downturn in the market was immediate and determined," Straus said. "While this downturn is very difficult, we believe that our focus on customer engagement, new products, a lower cost structure and greater financial strength will allow JDS Uniphase to emerge even stronger when industry growth resumes."
The company said it does not see any positive signs of a reversal in the downward trend of the industry and expects first quarter revenue to be below earlier guidance. On June 14, JDS projected first-quarter revenue of $450 million but Thursday declined to give further guidance for the first quarter or future periods.
In June, the company warned layoffs would exceed the 5,000 cuts announced in April. On Thursday, JDS said it would reduce 16,000 positions of which 9,000 were already cut by June 30. Most of the remaining reductions will take place in the fiscal first quarter, JDS said.
JDS shares were halted for nearly an hour shortly after 3 p.m. ET after a hacker broke into the company's computer system and stole a copy of its earnings release. 
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