Reuters, Monday, September 29, 1997 at 20:51
ALAMEDA, Calif., Sept 29 (Reuter) - Ascend Communications
Inc. (NASDAQ:ASND) said Monday its third-quarter net income will be
far less than Wall Street expected because of weak sales abroad
and a delay in the introduction of a key product.
The maker of computer networking gear said profit for the
quarter ending Sept 30. will be 18 to 20 cents a share --
significantly less than the 33 cents a share analysts had
expected, according to a recent survey by Zacks Investment
Research.
Revenue will be $260 million to $270 million, up from $249
million reported in the same quarter a year ago, the company
said after the market closed.
For the past few weeks, analysts had been expecting Ascend,
based in Alameda, Calif., to announce weak earnings. The
company, according to financial filings with government
regulators, had surprisingly weak sales in July.
Ascend shares fell $1 to $35.25 on Nasdaq, where it was the
second most active issue on volume of 7.18 million shares.
Since July, the stock has slipped 36 percent from $55.
The shortfall is largely because of a delay in the
introduction of Max TNT, a device that controls the flow of
information between computer networks, in international
markets, said Ascend Chief Executive Mory Ejabat in a
statement.
The company also blamed the shortfall on slowing demand for
personal computers in Japan, which hurt sales of its networking
gear, and weaker-than-expected sales in Europe.
"The result is that we are facing a significant shortfall
in our international revenues this quarter," Ejabat said.
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