Lucent Technologies, which is being acquired by France's Alcatel, reported a fiscal fourth-quarter net income that was just about flat as a small sales increase was offset by higher production costs, an Associated Press report said.
For the quarter ended September 30, the Murray Hill-based company earned $371 million, or 7 US cents per share, compared with $372 million, also 7 US cents per share, in the same period last year, the report said.
Revenue rose 5% to $2.56 billion from $2.43 billion in the year-ago quarter, the report further said.
Total US revenues rose 17% to $1.77 billion as sales of wireless communications products increased 36% to $1.11 billion. Revenues for services rose nearly 5%, but fell in Lucent's other business segments, the report said.
Foreign sales slumped 14% to $789 million, mainly due to a 37% plunge in wireless product sales and much lower sales in the Asia-Pacific region, the report added.
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial were looking for earnings of 4 US cents per share on sales of $2.39 billion.
For the full fiscal year, Lucent earned $527 million, or 11 US cents per share, down from $1.19 billion, or 24 US cents per share, in fiscal 2005. Sales fell 7% to $8.80 billion from $9.44 billion in the previous year, the report said.
Analysts were looking for earnings of 13 US cents per share on sales of $8.65 billion, the report further said.