CHARLOTTE, N.C.-Glenayre Technologies Inc. suffered a 22 percent stock drop after reporting a fourth quarter decline in net income. The stock closed Thursday at $15.38, down $4.25 from $19.63 a day earlier.
Net income for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 1996, was $16.7 million, compared with a net income of $23.4 million for the same quarter of 1995. Net sales for the fourth quarter were $104.2 million, 6 percent more than net sales of $98.5 million for the fourth quarter 1995.
With Wall Street already weary of the paging industry, statements by Gary Smith, Glenayre’s president and chief executive officer, in the fourth quarter earnings release, may have contributed to the company’s stock slide.
“During 1996, Glenayre’s net sales grew by 21 percent despite unprecedented challenges to the company and our industry,” commented Smith. “Specifically, commercial deployment of narrowband PCS systems in the [United States] proceeded slower than anticipated, and growth in U.S. one-way paging systems was constrained.”
