Wall Street worries over Ericsson’s Q4 expectations

In a presentation in New York, executives from infrastructure giant L.M. Ericsson said the company’s fourth-quarter results likely will be “in the lower end of the range” the company had expected, news that sent Ericsson’s stock down almost 6% in trading today to around $23 per share.
Ericsson expects its fourth-quarter sales to be between $8.42 billion and $9.53 billion. The company posted sales of $8.53 billion in the 2006 fourth quarter.
Further, the Swedish equipment supplier said “early expectation for 2008 is that the current market conditions will prevail,” a warning that likely exacerbated investor concerns.
Specifically, Ericsson blamed its expectations on a financial tightening among carrier customers in the United States and Europe. The company said “capacity upgrades” in North America-where Ericsson derives around 10% of its sales-were less than expected. And in emerging markets-where Ericsson derives 55% of sales-the company said political unrest in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand and elsewhere was affecting its financial prospects.