Alcatel-Lucent wireless woes continue

Alcatel-Lucent reported revenues for the first quarter that were slightly lower than what it forecast nearly three weeks ago; however, investors didn’t appear alarmed with the final tally as the company’s stock rose almost 4% on the announcement to $13.51 per share.
Revenues for the quarter hit $5.25 billion, down at least 8% from the year-ago period. Alcatel-Lucent reported more than $1.5 billion in gross profit while operating income came in at a loss of $330 million.
The infrastructure powerhouse, which marks a recently merged Alcatel S.A. and Lucent Technologies Inc., continued to blame much of its first-quarter woes on its wireless business. Wireless revenues were down 20% year-over-year to more than $1.6 billion. The company said it recorded a decline in its wireless transmission business across all regions except Asia, which continued to see growth.
“Having completed the largest merger in our industry, we are encouraged by the progress we are making with our overall integration plans,” CEO Patricia Russo said. “However, as anticipated, our first quarter 2007 revenues declined as a result of lower volumes in wireless and core networks at a time when we continued to make considerable investments in the next generation of these technologies.”