Tekelec Reports Decline of 26% for 4th Quarter

Tekelec said fourth-quarter earnings fell 26%, to $272,000, from the corresponding period a year earlier, while sales rose 15%, to $3.8 million. Per-share earnings for the period ending Dec. 31 were 7 cents, against 14 cents the previous year.

For the full year, net income was $1.4 million, or 40 cents a share, compared to $1.2 million, or 45 cents, for 1985. Sales rose 44%, to $14.0 million.

Calabasas-based Tekelec makes telecommunications testing equipment. The company said results for the quarter were affected by a slowdown in telecommunications spending in the United States and Japan, and by higher costs from the company’s new Chameleon 32 test system for digital telecommunications.

The company said sales were up for the year because of increased acceptance of another testing device that Tekelec began shipping in 1984.