Tekelec Results Off 22% in 3rd Quarter

Tekelec said its third-quarter earnings fell 22% from a year earlier, despite a 19% sales gain.

The Calabasas-based maker of testing equipment for the communications industry said net income for the quarter that ended Sept. 30 dropped to $336,000, or nine cents a share, from $433,000, or 12 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue climbed from $3.7 million to $4.4 million.

For the first nine months of 1987, Tekelec’s profit skidded to $249,000, or seven cents a share, from $1.1 million, or 33 cents a share, a year earlier. The latest results included a $381,000 after-tax write-off Tekelec took in this year’s second quarter because it discontinued two product lines.

Nine-month sales rose 18%, to $12 million from $10.2 million.