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Technology Stocks : Lucent Technologies (LU) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: w2j2 who wrote (1250)	1/20/1998 12:17:00 PM
From: Ibexx	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 21876

Thread, More news on Lucent earnings: ______ Tuesday January 20, 10:29 am Eastern Time Lucent jumps on better-than-expected Q1 NEW YORK, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Shares of Lucent Technologies Inc rose 4.2 percent on Tuesday after the telecommunications equipment maker posted better-than-expected first quarter earnings. Lucent, one of the most active issues on the New York Stock Exchange, gained 3-3/16 to 78-1/2 in early trading. ''It was just a blowout,'' said Alex Cena, an analyst with Bear Stearns, referring to Lucent's record first quarter results. Lucent said its fiscal first quarter net income increased 31 percent from a year earlier, to $1.124 billion, or $1.72 per diluted share, excluding a one-time charge associated with the company's December acquisition of Livingston Enterprises Inc and a one-time gain associated with its October sale of its Advanced Technology Systems business. The first quarter results beat the Wall Street consensus earnings estimate of $1.52 a share and topped last year's first quarter net income of $859 million, or $1.35 per diluted share. First quarter revenues increased to $8.724 billion from $7.938 billion a year ago, driven by sales of switching and wireless systems and software. Analysts cited Lucent's improved gross margin, lower selling, general and administrative expenses, and lower tax rate as highlights of the quarter. As a percentage of revenue, Lucent's first quarter gross margin was 48.2 percent, compared to 45.9 percent in the year-ago quarter, driven by record software sales, strong intellectual property revenues, and improved management of costs, the company said. SG&G expenses decreased to 17.8 percent of revenues in the quarter, compared with 18.4 percent in the year-ago period, and the effective tax rate dropped to 36 percent from 38.6 percent in the year-ago quarter, Lucent said. ''Basically, the lower tax rate will result in increased earnings for the rest of the year,'' said SoundView Financial group analyst Chandan Sarkar. Other analysts said Lucent will also benefit from an expected increase in total telecommunications spending in 1998. Total spending is expected to rise but growth will be less than in previous years, analysts said. Last week, shares of other, smaller telecommunications equipment maker stocks dropped amid concerns about a slowdown in spending by the Baby Bells. Lucent was not hurt by this seasonal drop in spending since it has a strong backlog of orders, analysts said. Separately, Applied Digital Access Inc ((ADAX - news) said on Tuesday that it was in talks with Lucent to form a strategic alliance related to certain testing products. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Ibexx PS: Diane, are you there?-- I hope you are happy with LU's performance.