Alcatel-Lucent is on course to miss Wall Street's fourth-quarter expectations because of a slowdown by operators in North America, Europe, and China, according to Soleil Securities Group Inc. analyst Michael Genovese.
He believes European operators and Verizon Communications have reined in their spending during the fourth quarter, and that some network projects in China have been delayed, leaving Alca-Lu with lower than expected sales for the final three months of 2009. The "bulk of the declines are in the wireline, optics, enterprise and services categories," he notes.
Genovese has lowered his revenues forecast for the vendor's fourth quarter to €4.17 billion (US$6 billion) from his previous forecast of €4.39 billion (US$6.32 billion), and expects earnings pre-share of US$0.06, down from US$0.10. On average, analysts are expecting revenues of €4.48 billion (US$6.45 billion).
The Soleil man also expects Alca-Lu to miss its target of adjusted operating break even for the full year: He forecasts a €143 million (US$206 million) adjusted operating loss for 2009. Article