Yes, he did! Read this entire article including where Roth states that their quarter results will correct the concerns over a drop in demand.
cnetinvestor.com
Nortel CEO Boosts Sales Forecast for Fiber-Optic Gear
9/14/00 1:55:00 PM Source: Bloomberg News
Santa Clara, California, Sept. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Nortel Networks Corp. Chief Executive John Roth boosted his forecast for sales of fiber-optic equipment this year, saying $12 billion is possible now that Nortel is sold out until the first quarter. ''The situation we're going to be in through the end of the year is supply-limited,'' he said in an interview. Now, ''$12 billion is possible.''
Nortel more than doubled its capacity to make fiber-optic equipment in the past 12 months and unveiled plans in July to spend $700 million on further expansion. Based on that schedule, Roth had expected Nortel to produce more equipment than it could sell in the fourth quarter and so limited his previous forecasts to $10 billion or more. He said Nortel, the biggest maker of fiber-optic equipment, has since found new customers such as Global Crossing Ltd. to buy up that surplus and plans to announce more contracts. ''We've got orders for all of that,'' he said. ''Because we've been successful in ramping our supply, we're been able to go back to the customers we had to turn away a year ago.'' Nortel has widened its lead in sales of fiber-optic transmission gear, the devices that use lasers to beam information on strands of glass, by cutting prices and selling more of its fastest equipment that few rivals can match. The Brampton, Ontario-based company got 43 percent of the $5.94 billion spent in the second quarter on such transmission gear, according to Dell'Oro Group, a market researcher in Portola Valley, California. Lucent Technologies Inc., the biggest maker of phone equipment, was second with 15 percent.
New Contract
Nortel yesterday announced its latest contract for optical gear, a 42-month, $155 million order from Savvis Communications Corp. Roth, in an interview this week in Santa Clara, California, also dismissed concerns that phone companies are spending less on equipment to update their networks to carry more Internet and data traffic. The concerns have weighed on shares of equipment makers such as Nortel, Lucent and Ciena Corp. in the past two weeks. ''If there's a downturn, we aren't seeing it,'' Roth said. ''When our results come out at the end of the quarter, this will correct.'' Nortel also is close to sold out in some lines of wireless equipment and data switches based on the ''asynchronous transfer mode,'' or ATM, standard, Roth said. Nortel shares today rose 4.81 to 72 in New York Stock Exchange trading. The stock has risen 43 percent so far this year. |
