Ascend "comfortable" with Q4 consensus
Reuters Story - December 04, 1997 20:18
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PALO ALTO, Calif., Dec 4 (Reuters) - Ascend Communications
Inc executives are "comfortable" with Wall Street analyst
earnings forecasts for the fourth quarter, the company's finance
chief said on Thursday.
"We are fairly satisfied with the business and the outlook,"
said Michael Ashby, chief financial officer of the computer
networking gear vendor. "We are still comfortable with fourth
quarter and 1998 estimates."
Ascend shares jumped $3.25, or 14 percent, to $26.875 on
Nasdaq trading of 17.5 million shares, the second most active
stock in U.S. markets.
Ashby said Ascend's stock jumped because investors were
expecting the company to warn of lower-than-expected earnings
forecasts, as rivals 3Com Corp and Cabletron Systems
Inc did this week.
Wall Street expects the Alameda, Calif., company to earn
$0.24 a share for the fourth quarter, according to a recent
analyst survey by Zacks Investment Research.
Also on Thursday, fresh speculation surfaced that Ascend was
about to be acquired by a larger networking vendor, such as
Lucent Technologies Inc.
Ashby said Ascend's policy is not to comment on buyout
speculation. "It's an old rumor," he added.
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