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

To: MMW who wrote (56118)	10/20/1998 8:43:00 AM
From: Tom Gebing	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 61433

Ascend CEO: 3Q Book-To-Bill Ratio Greater Than 1 Dow Jones Newswires October 19, 1998 BUENA PARK, Calif. -- Ascend Communications Inc. (ASND) expects to report fourth-quarter net income of around 31 cents a share, including 3 cents a share in integration costs for the merger with Stratus Computer Inc., Chief Financial Officer Michael Ashby said. The guidance is in line with the previous First Call Corp. consensus of 34 cents a share. The company's third-quarter book-to-bill ratio, or proportion of orders versus shipments, was greater than 1, added Chief Executive Mory Ejabat. In a conference call following the company's third-quarter earnings report, the executives issued an optimistic near- to mid-term outlook. Referring to reports of slower aggregate traffic on telecommunications networks, Ejabat said: "We have not seen this slowdown to date." He said telecommunications companies are shifting their infrastructure spending toward fast-growing information networks, away from traditional circuit-switched products. Network infrastructure remains the highest priority to customers, Ejabat said. Ascend, of Alameda, Calif., completed its $822 million merger with Stratus earlier Monday, Ejabat said. The deal, announced Aug. 3, brings to Ascend a unit that sells specialized computers to telephone carriers for use in their voice networks. For Ascend as a standalone company, Ashby reiterated his fourth-quarter revenue guidance of $400 million to $410 million.