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Technology Stocks : Ascend Communications (ASND) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kent Rattey who wrote (56112)	10/20/1998 1:13:00 AM
From: Kent Rattey	Respond to of 61433

Ascend Sales Rise 37 Percent In 3Q (10/19/98 3:42 p.m. ET) By Sergio G. Non, TechInvestor In results released after market close Monday, Ascend posted third quarter profits of $66.1 million, or 32 cents a share, one penny ahead of First Call's consensus estimates and 64 percent higher than the same period a year ago. The Alameda, Calif.-based network-equipment maker has consistently edged out analyst forecasts for the past several quarters. "Things are relatively strong at Ascend," said Mike Cristinziano, vice president with Gerard Klauer Mattison. "They're seeing strong sales of their ATM product line, and pricing has been stable in the remote access business." Third quarter sales rose 37 percent year-over-year, to $370.3 million from $270.4 million. Demand for VPN combined with growing demand for voice and fax over IP networks boosted demand for Ascend's products, said Mory Ejabat, president and CEO of the company. "Our continued growth this quarter illustrates our leadership," he said. Ascend's core business will remain solid, but the company still has to digest its recent acquisition of Stratus, analysts said. "Long term, it's a good thing," Cristinziano said. "But I think the near-term potential for disappointment from the Stratus acquisition is very real." Wall Street will be happy if Ascend quickly sells off those parts of Stratus that aren't part of Ascend's core business, said Paul Sagawa, analyst with Sanford Bernstein & Co. "I would like to see that happen expeditiously, so it's not a distraction for Ascend," he said. The Stratus acquisition formally closed Monday, Ejabat said, adding that Ascend has fielded some offers for the businesses it is trying to sell. Sagawa was confident Ascend would maintain its growth rate. Even international economic turmoil shouldn't affect Ascend much, Sagawa said, because most of the company's non-U.S. sales are in Europe, to companies such as British Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom, and Cable & Wireless. "Their intention to deploy ATM and Internet technologies remains strong," Sagawa said.

To: Kent Rattey who wrote (56112)	10/20/1998 2:44:00 AM
From: bucky89	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 61433

How does this happen? This reverses the revenue trend of the last few quarters, which have shown increasing domination by the Cascade ATM business. A pretty sudden turn around in remote access without any prior mention from management(that I can recall). Did they explain this on the conference call? My impression from the conference call is that several big ATM orders were deferred to next quarter for revenue recognition. ATM orders grew this quarter over last quarter, just not as fast as remote access grew. A cautious CFO, Ashby is seriously bagging earnings for next quarter in anticipation of any problems with Stratus or Asia. He's got earnings hidden in various nooks and crannies in his balance sheet, to be pulled out on a rainy day. He was hinting at it all through his CC. Ascend will not disappoint in the future. A pretty sudden turn around in remote access without any prior mention from management(that I can recall). Did they explain this on the conference call? A new product introduction called the MAX6000, which Ascend's customers were eagerly waiting and holding up their orders for during prior quarters. This explains the bubble in the RAS revenues. bucky89