3Com<COMS.O> sees improving results
"To the best of our knowledge, we believe sales out (of the channel)
this quarter, measured in dollars, were in the range of $1.37 billion
to $1.4 billion," said Chris Paisley, 3Com's chief financial officer.
Still, 3Com faced big declines in almost all product lines because of
weak demand and falling prices for networking gear. The company said
sales of its systems -- which include its core products of hubs and
switches -- fell 13 percent in the third quarter to $549.9 million
from the same quarter a year ago.
Sales of client access products -- which include modems -- fell 16
percent to $700.3 million in the third quarter.
Gross margins, a key measure of how much money a company makes on each
dollar of sales, fell to 43.4 percent in the quarter, reflecting the
lower prices.
3Com executives also disclosed a long-promised revised financial model
for the next few years. The company said it expects its long-term
gross margin to hover in the range of about 45.5 percent to 47 percent,
down from 48 percent to 50 percent in recent quarters.
To compensate for the lower gross margins, the company will lower
operating costs, as a percentage of sales, to a range of 27.5 percent
to 29.5 percent, 3Com executives said.
REUTERS
Rtr 18:41 03-24-98
Copyright 1998, Reuters News Service. All rights reserved. Replication or redistribution of Reuter's content is expressly prohibited without
the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance
thereon.
nasdaq!
A pleasure to get off the ASND and COMS threads. Back to this
thread of the normally insane.<g>
o~~~ O |
