Lucent Lowers Sales Forecast, Delays Profit Return (Update11)
By Justin Baer
quote.bloomberg.com
Murray Hill, New Jersey, March 12 (Bloomberg) -- Lucent Technologies Inc., the biggest U.S. maker of telephone equipment, reduced a quarterly sales forecast and said its return to profitability will be delayed as customers curb spending. The shares fell 11 percent.
Sales will rise 10 percent or less in the second quarter ending March 31. Lucent, which had predicted a gain of as much as 15 percent, doesn't expect to be profitable until fiscal 2003. Previously, it planned to break even by Sept. 30, the end of the current fiscal year.
Chief Executive Officer Patricia Russo, who on Feb. 20 expressed confidence Lucent would meet its financial goals, said she tempered expectations after large carriers such as BellSouth Corp. cut equipment budgets in recent weeks. Lucent will delay the spinoff of chip-making unit Agere Systems Inc., which absorbed $2.5 billion of its parent's debt in March 2001.
``I don't think any of those (phone companies) are having planning meetings right now for how they can go out and spend more money,'' said Henry Asher, president of Northstar Group Inc., which manages $140 million. ``Who's buying this stuff?'' |
