Here ya go....got in from Nasdaq site
SAN DIEGO, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Ascend Communications Inc said on Monday it expects several quarters of unpredictable growth because of price reductions, consolidation among Internet service providers and slower international demand.
Ascend, a maker of telecommunication gear for Internet service providers and online services, also said it expects revenue growth of about 10 percent sequentially from quarter to quarter for the next few quarters.
"We feel good about our long-term prospects, but we're going to see several quarters where growth will be 10 percent quarter or quarter, a little more or little less," Bernie Schneider, Ascend treasurer, told investors at the American Electronics Association conference in San Diego.
Schneider said Ascend likely will have to reduce the list price of its access concentrators -- telecommunication devices for online services that accept calls from customers' modems -- between 20 to 30 percent in the first half of 1998, amid more competition from rivals such as Cisco Systems Inc (CSCO.O), 3Com Corp (COMS.O) and Bay Networks Inc (BAY.N).
He also said the wave of acquisitions of Internet service providers by phone companies is making demand less predictable domestically.
"I see the company saying that their long-term prospects are good, and their short-term prospects are unpredictable," said William Rabin, analyst at JP Morgan who attended the Ascend presentation.
In the third quarter, Ascend reported revenue and earnings that were well below what Wall Street was expecting. Ascend had particularly slow sales in July, the first month of that quarter.
Schneider said Ascend is "off to a better start this quarter than last."
((--Kourosh Karimkhany in San Diego, 415 269 6931))
REUTERS
John |
