TLAB...Q3 exceeds estimates, cites strong sales
LISLE, Ill., Oct 17 (Reuters) - Telecommunications equipment maker Tellabs Inc. (NasdaqNM:TLAB - news) on Tuesday reported higher third-quarter earnings that exceeded analysts' estimates, reflecting strong demand for its TITAN digital optical networking products.
The Lisle, Illinois-based company said its profit for the quarter ended September 29 rose to $210.4 million, or 50 cents a diluted share, from $141.2 million, or 34 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter, including one-time items in both years.
Excluding the special items, Tellabs earned 47 cents a diluted share compared with 33 cents in the year-ago quarter. Analysts on average had expected Tellabs to earn 45 cents a share, according to First Call/Thomson Financial, with estimates ranging from 44 to 46 cents.
Special items in the quarter included a pretax gain of about $12.1 million on the sale of stock held as an investment and a pretax gain of about $8.6 million on a distribution from one of the company's technology investments.
One-time items in the year-ago quarter included a pretax gain of about $6.9 million on the sale of stock held as an investment and a pretax charge of $1.9 million taken in connection with the acquisition of NetCore Systems Inc.
Sales for the quarter rose to $870.6 million, up 46.2 percent from year-ago sales of $595.4 million.
Sales of optical networking products rose 62.5 percent to $544.5 million. Tellabs said it received its first commitment to deploy the TITAN 6100 system with a new major carrier customer and expects to ship the first systems to that customer during the fourth quarter.
Sales of broadband access products rose 34.5 percent to $203.8 million, driven by sales of its Cablespan universal telephony distribution system.
Sales from its next generation switching group fell to $51.3 million from $72.5 million last year.
Shares of Tellabs closed at $43-1/2 on Nasdaq Monday. Tellabs' stock has fallen more than 40 percent since July due to fears that spending on telecommunications equipment was dropping and jitters about the sector's high valuation compared with earnings. |
