NEW YORK-Like comets flashing across the sky, one vendor that topped the 1996 revenue charts dropped significantly on the 1997 charts, while another that was absent from the major players for 1996 zoomed into second place.
Between 1995 and 1996, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. rose to first place from fifth in this category. For 1997, the company dropped to 31th place.
NEC Corp., which had placed second for 1996, moved into the top spot. Alcatel Alsthom S.A., which was only recently added to RCR’s StockWatch listing, zipped into second place.
Holding steady year-to-year in their third through seventh place rankings among revenue leaders were Motorola Inc., Lucent Technologies Inc., L.M. Ericsson, Northern Telecom Ltd. and Nokia Corp.
Qualcomm Inc. moved up three notches to eighth, edging out CellStar Corp., which held that position for 1996 and took ninth place for 1997.
Another scenario of fast arrivals and departures played itself out in the revenue growth rankings. DSP Communications Inc., the leader for 1996, sank like a stone to near-bottom.
Moving into the 1997 top spot was Applied Cellular Technology Inc. Likewise for World Access Inc., which clocked in fourth for 1997.
According to the leading indicator of net income in 1997, Ericsson took the blue-ribbon position after placing third for the prior year.
Arch rival Nokia Corp. also moved up two notches, to third rank from fifth for 1996.
Ericsson beat out the 1996 net-income leader, Motorola, which moved in 1997 into second place, the position Lucent occupied the prior year. Lucent slid into seventh place behind NEC, itself down two notches from 1996.
Alcatel, which made its debut among vendor leaders as the second-place holder for total revenues in 1997, also stepped out from the sidelines and smartly into fifth place in the net-income rankings.
There were still more surprises in the category of profit growth, as Mobile Mini Inc. zoomed to the leadership position. Last year’s leader, Datamarine International Inc., dropped out of this ranking altogether.
Applied Cellular Technology took third place. Brite Voice Systems Inc. dropped to 14th, down from third the prior year.
Qualcomm, which finished at number 19 during 1996, stepped into second place. Likewise, Ortel Corp. snapped up fourth place, a significant ascension above its 1996 ranking of 21st in profit growth.
Although Specialty Teleconstructors dropped to 10th from second in terms of 1997 profit growth rankings, it achieved a first-place finish for two-year total return. Brightpoint Inc., the 1995-1996 leader, dropped to second place.
World Access and Associated Group Inc., both absent from the 1995-1996 total return leaders ranking, moved into third and fourth place, respectively.
Carrier revenues
Although its total revenues for 1997 were down by more than $1 billion compared with 1996, NEC Corp. placed first among vendors in this category.
Newcomer Alcatel Alsthom S.A. slid last year into the second-place spot that NEC had occupied for 1996. Motorola held onto third place, having earned nearly $2 billion more in revenues during 1997 than the year before.
Profit growth leaders
Absent entirely from the major player rankings for 1996, Mobile Mini Inc. hit the top of the chart in profit growth, reporting an increase of more than 357 percent in net income during 1997.
Qualcomm, whose net income also increased by well above 300 percent last year, finished second, way above its 19th-place showing for 1996.
Datamarine International, the 1996 profit growth leader, dropped out of the profit growth rankings.
Specialty Teleconstructors lost the second-place footing it held in 1996, falling to ninth-right behind Nokia Corp., which moved up 10 notches from 18th.
Two-year total return
Specialty Teleconstructors zipped into first place, having posted two-year total returns of more than 491 percent, up from the 150 percent it reported for the prior biennial period when it placed third among vendors.
Last year’s two-year leader, Brightpoint, moved down one place to second, although its 268-plus percent return was nearly 10 percentage points higher than its 1995-1996 showing.
World Access moved into Speciality Teleconstructor’s former third-place spot.
Associated Group, also making a grand entrance into this ranking, took fourth place.
Percent revenue growth
Newcomer Applied Cellular Technology, which experienced a 418-percent revenue growth during 1997, topped this category.
Qualcomm, which posted a 157.59-percent revenue increase last year, held onto second place. For perspective, in order to garner the number-two spot for 1996, Qualcomm’s revenues had grown by about 111 percent on a much smaller base.
Third-place Specialty Teleconstructors topped the 100-percent annual growth rate for 1997, an achievement it just missed the prior year when it placed fourth behind WinStar Communications Inc. Because of WinStar’s aggressive foray into the role of wireless competitive local exchange carrier, its 1997 performance was included in the carrier rankings.
Intek Global Corp., absent from all vendor leader rankings for 1996, moved into sixth place behind Telular Corp., which rose to fifth, up from 33rd place the prior year.
Net income leaders
Ericsson stepped with authority up two rungs and into the number-one spot, according to the important indicator of net income, during 1997. Its profits grew by $475 million year-to-year.
Motorola, whose profits grew by $26 million between the end of 1996 and the close of 1997, retained its second-place spot.
Nokia, whose net income nearly doubled to top the $1 billion mark, moved into third place, up from fifth. Northern Telecom, reporting an increase in profits of nearly $200 million, rose to fourth from sixth for 1996. Newcomer Alcatel Alsthom S.A. stepped into fifth place.
Lucent Technologies, however, dropped to seventh from second on 1997 revenues that were just more than half the $1.054 billion it reported at the end of 1996.
Vendor rankings information for this feature is provided by Norby’s International Inc. using 1997 year-end data on companies listed in RCR’s StockWatch. Data for all companies was compiled using total figures, even though some companies only derive a portion of their revenues from wireless operations.
This focus is not intended to be an endorsement by RCR Publications Inc. for any of the companies listed.
