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Cloudy view hits Ciena stock
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May 22, 1998: 10:46 a.m. ET
Orders up in the air, telecom equipment maker shares sink despite strong 2Q
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - A murky outlook about orders from customers WorldCom and AT&T dragged on Ciena Corp. stock Friday despite a better-than-expected second quarter at the telecommunications gear maker.
Linthicum, Md.-based Ciena said second-quarter operating profit rose from $28.5 million, or 27 cents a share a year ago, to $31 million, or 29 cents per diluted share, for the quarter ended April 30, beating the analyst consensus estimates by 2 cents.
But in after-hours trading Thursday, Ciena shares (CIEN) fell as much as 5-1/16 to 47. Early Friday, the shares were down more than 4 percent, or 2-3/16, to 49-7/16.
Ciena spokesman Denny Bilter attributed the after-hours plunge in Ciena shares to a faulty press report Thursday.
"One of your fellow reporters made a mistake," Bilter said , citing a Reuters report that said Ciena fell short of analyst estimates. "The educated financial community was very pleased, and they have told us that."
Reuters has since corrected the story.
"We face continued uncertainty surrounding the volume and timing of the resumption of ordering from WorldCom, and at this point, we still have little visibility as to the timing or volume of potential orders from AT&T,'' said Chief Executive Officer Patrick Nettles.
Ciena is cultivating a new relationship with AT&T Corp., while WorldCom Inc. recently changed its buying practices for a system that expands traffic on fiber-optic lines, a Ciena spokesman said. 
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Ciena
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