Carrier Access warns on weakened first quarter

Carrier Access Corp. announced it will report a larger net loss for the first quarter than expected, and it plans restructuring activities to help it reduce costs.
The company said it expects revenues to come in between $8.3 million and $8.7 million and loss per share is expected to range to range from 27 cents to 32 cents. Average analyst estimates predicted the company would report a loss of 21 cents per share on revenues of $14.07 million.
“As we discussed on our last conference call our visibility into our U.S. wireless customer base decreased as our customers continued to evaluate strategies and plans for optimizing their 2G networks and operationalizing more efficient 3G networks,” said Roger Koenig, CEO of the company. “Unfortunately, our revenue from wireless carriers did not recover in the first quarter as this planning mode continued.
“Although wireless revenues were down quarter over quarter, we continue to believe that global wireless operators are planning to deploy networking equipment that will provide them with both improved bandwidth performance and reductions in operating costs,” said Koenig. “As such, during the first quarter, we continued to spend significantly on R&D to provide these product solutions for our customers.”
The company said it plans to consolidate facilities, restructure and downsize some remote development centers and eliminate contractors to reduce research and development costs during the second half of the year.
Carrier Access’ stock tumbled on the news, but largely recovered in later trading to around $5 per share.