UPDATE 2-Tekelec Q3 profit tops Street, raises FY 09 profit view

Wed Nov 4, 2009 9:58am EST
 
[-] Text [+]

* Q3 adj EPS of 27 cents beat estimates by 6 cents

* Q3 revenue up 8 pct

* Sees FY 09 sales of $450 mln-$460 mln vs est of $457.3 mln

* Ups FY 09 adj EPS view to $0.95-$1.00

* Shares up as much as 7 pct (Adds conference call details, updates share movement)

BANGALORE, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Network equipment technology provider Tekelec (TKLC.O) posted a quarterly profit that beat Wall Street expectations helped by lower expenses and higher revenue, and raised its full-year earnings view.

The company now expects 2009 adjusted earnings of 95 cents a share to $1 a share, up from prior expectations of 90 cents to 95 cents a share. It reiterated revenue expectations of $450 million to $460 million.

Analysts were looking for earnings of 94 cents a share, excluding items, on revenue of $457.3 million.

"Our next generation products continue to gain traction," Chief Executive Frank Plastina said in a statement.

However, the company expects orders of $390 million to $420 million, down from prior expectations of $420 million to $460 million.

Chief Financial Officer William Everett on a conference call with analysts said he does not see the global telecom capital expenditure spending in the second half to improve to the extent anticipated a quarter ago.

Therefore, the company expects the environment for generating new orders to continue to be challenging for the remainder of the year.

"Although order input from our U.S. and Indian customers is up on a year-to-date basis, our customers in Western Europe and other emerging markets are clearly keeping very tight control over their capex spending," Everett said.

He does not expect the Western Europe and other emerging markets CapEx budgets to fully recover until 2010.

Tekelec, which helps phone companies enable a host of services such as text messaging, number portability and caller ID, saw a 8 percent rise in orders to $94.7 million.

The company expects full year adjusted gross margins in the range of 66 percent to 67 percent.  Continued...

 

Featured Broker sponsored link