Thread----Lucent Technologies Inc.
Dow Jones Newswires -- January 26, 1999
Lucent, Northern Telecom Shrs Up; Nortel 4Q Seen As
Bullish
By Shawn Young
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Shares of telecommunications equipment makers rose Tuesday as
Northern Telecom Ltd. (NT) and smaller Tellabs Inc. (TLAB) issued fourth-quarter results that beat
expectations and projected relentless demand.
Shares of Tellabs, Lisle, Ill., and Canada's Northern Telecom, known as Nortel, reflected the
positive results, but the sector's biggest winner was industry giant Lucent Technologies Inc. (LU).
Lucent's stock sagged last week after its first fiscal quarter earnings beat expectations, but
paperwork delays weakened revenue growth. The Murray Hill, N.J., company said the delay did not
reflect any slowdown in demand and projected stronger results for the year than analysts had
forecast, but investors held back.
They seemed to get the reassurance they needed from Nortel's results, with Tellabs earnings adding
still more emphasis, analysts said.
"The tone of business appears to be positive," said Robinson-Humphrey Co. analyst Greg Mesniaeff.
"There's no indication that demand for infrastructure is slowing."
The growth of the Internet is leading to an explosion in demand for more data-transmission capacity,
which in turn is leading to more demand for network equipment, Mesniaeff said.
Lucent's NYSE-listed shares recently were up 6 1/2, or 6.4%, to 108 5/18 in moderate trading,
while Nortel's NYSE-listed stock rose 2 7/8, or 5.2% to 58 5/16 in heavy trading. Tellabs shares
were up 2 7/16, or 2.9%, to 86 3/8 in heavy Nasdaq trading.
Shares of Ascend Communications Inc. (ASND), which Lucent is buying, also rose 6%.
Shares of most of the major telecommunications equipment, technology and data networking
companies gained in a generally upbeat day for both NYSE and Nasdaq stocks. Among those
whose shares were up recently are: Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO), Motorola Inc. (MOT), Qualcomm
Inc. (QCOM), and Nokia Corp. (NOKA).
BEST WISHES
BILL
PS Basically says LU is great shape for this qtr with the extra revenue from the fourth qtr |
