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Lucent 2Q income leaps
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April 22, 1998: 11:01 a.m. ET
Earnings at telecom equipment maker sail past estimates; stock price jumps
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Lucent Technologies said Wednesday its fiscal second-quarter earnings, excluding a one-time charge, nearly tripled from the comparable period a year ago - far ahead of analysts' estimates.
Without the charge, net income at Lucent, a New Jersey-based provider of network communications services, rose to $180 million, or 14 cents a share, from $66 million, or 5 cents a share a year earlier. Analysts had forecast earnings of 9 cents a share.
The news was greeted warmly by investors, who pushed shares of Lucent (LU) 3-3/16 higher to 77-7/16 in Wednesday morning trading.
Including a one-time $157 million charge associated with Lucent's January acquisition of Prominet Corp., net income was $23 million, or 2 cents a share. The results also include a $33 million pre-tax reversal of business restructuring charges recorded in December 1995.
Revenues rose 19.6 percent to $6.157 billion from $5.149 billion in the year-ago period.
Revenues for systems for network operators rose 24.7 percent to $3.654 billion, led by sales to regional Bell companies, competitive local exchange carriers, wireless service providers, and long distance carriers. Demand for data services and Internet services also boosted revenues in the group, the company said.
Revenues in business communications systems increased 32.3 percent to $1.730 billion, driven largely by sales of communications servers and messaging systems such as those offered by the recently acquired Octel Communications.
Microelectronic revenues jumped 14.6 percent to $705 million, propelled by sales of customized chips for communications and computing.
Gross margins as a percentage of revenue improved to 44.2 percent from 42.1 percent a year ago, while selling, general and administrative expenses slid to 24.1 percent from 25 percent in the second fiscal quarter of 1997.
The company's effective tax rate also dropped, to 36 percent from 38.1 percent in the comparable period a year ago.
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Lucent
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