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

To: Frank mancuso who wrote (6799)	3/25/1999 2:32:00 AM
From: Anonymous	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 21876

"Explanation for today's action Lucent CFO gave a presentation today. Lucent Says It Will Meet Expectations for 2nd-Qtr Profit, Sales Murray Hill, New Jersey, March 24 (Bloomberg) -- Lucent Technologies Inc., the world's biggest phone-equipment maker, said it expects to meet its estimates for fiscal second-quarter sales and earnings growth, boosted by strong demand. Chief Financial Officer Donald Peterson, at a Merrill Lynch & Co. conference with investors in New York, reiterated the company's forecast that revenue for the quarter ending March 31 will increase by 30 percent and that profit will double to 28 cents a share. Even so, some analysts and investors think Lucent's results may fall short, after fiscal-first quarter sales missed estimates by about $800 million because the company failed to complete some orders before the quarter closed. It was the first time Lucent has lagged forecasts, and some investors are worried that a repeat would cripple the stock. ''It would cast some doubt as to whether they can do what they say they're going to do,'' said Andy Hopkins, an analyst at Wilmington Trust Corp., which owns 1.43 million Lucent shares. ''That's never taken well.'' The average estimate of analysts polled by First Call Corp. reflects profit expectations of 29 cents a share. The estimates range from 24 cents to 32 cents. Lucent shares fell 1 11/16 to 98 1/2. The stock fell 7.4 percent on Jan. 21, the day Lucent reported fiscal first- quarter results." DID THE STOCK DROP BECAUSE LUCENT GAVE A PRESENTATION? DID THE STOCK DROP BECAUSE THEY SAID THEY WILL MEET EXPECTATIONS? DID THE STOCK FALL BECAUSE EVEN THOUGH THE COMPANY SAID IT WOULD MEET "ITS" EXPECTATIONS SOME ANALYSTS STILL DON'T BELIEVE IT? DID THE STOCK FALL BECAUSE THE COMPANY SAID 28 CENTS A SHARE AND FIRST CALL EXPECTS 29 CENTS A SHARE? DID THE STOCK FALL BECAUSE ANDY HOPKINS MADE HIS STATEMENT? The STREET just has this "love/hate" relationship with Lucent and with AT&T. It started way back when Bob Allen was running the company. And the same with the Baby Bells. One minute someone will say something nice and the next minute someone will be hammering them. The reason they do is because all these stocks are the most widely held by anybody. There are more widows, pensioners, and others holding on to AT&T and what it has become over the years with divesture and so forth. I talk with many people who still have all the AT&T they ever bought, all the Baby Bells that were created back in 1984, and all the Lucent that was spun off in 1997. Some even are holding the NCR stock they got with that spin-off. They'll never sell and the market knows that. These individuals "out there in America" who never sell help to support the ups and downs that the big money likes to create. The institutions buy and sell large blocks anymore, making these stocks a heck of a lot more volatile than they used to be. I own Bell South and it has dropped in the last few weeks from a high of 49 7/8 back on Feb 22 to a close of 41 today...a drop of 18% in a month. What for? Because it is a good stock to manipulate because so many people own and they will never sell. Every quarter they re-invest dividends. They keep it hanging in there. When will Lucent announce earnings? Somewhere around April 21? Anonymous