Alca-Lu posts wider loss, but reiterates forecast

Alcatel-Lucent reported a wider net lost in the third quarter on weaker sales. However, the company restated its previous forecast of nearing break even for the year on an adjusted operating level.

The infrastructure vendor had a net loss of around $270 million, wider than its net loss of $59.2 million in the year-ago period. Revenue fell 9.3 percent to to $5.46 billion. The company's carrier unit saw a double-digit decline in revenue.

Alcatel-Lucent's stock remained relatively unchanged on the news, sitting at around $4.17 per share in early morning trading.

Despite the weak performance, the company maintained its outlook on nearing break even by the end of the year. The company is in the midst of a $1.1 billion cost-cutting program, and Alcatel-Lucent CEO Ben Verwaayen said the vendor had achieved 80 percent of the cuts so far this year. He said he expects the telecom sector to return to single-digit growth in 2010.

It appears Alcatel-Lucent won't be alone in its third quarter troubles. Already this month rival Ericsson reported a 71 percent decline in profit.

For more:
- see FierceWireless' Q3 earnings page [1]
- see this release [2]
- see this WSJ article [3] (sub. req.)
- see this FT article [4]
- see this Bloomberg article [5]

Related Articles:
Alcatel-Lucent posts profit on asset sales [6]
Alcatel-Lucent posts $539M loss, aims to break even in 2009 [7]
Alcatel-Lucent to raise up to $1.4B in bond sale [8]
Alca-Lu: Vendors can succeed without consolidation [9]