Agilent Soars 47% on Fiber-Optic News
Silicon Valley pop quiz: What’s faster today--the speed of new technology, or the speed with which stocks of companies with new technology move?
Agilent Technologies, the recent spinoff from Hewlett-Packard, saw its shares soar 47% Monday after the company unveiled technology to speed fiber-optic networks.
That news, and hype at a fiber-optic conference getting underway in Baltimore, helped boost fiber-optic-related stocks in general.
Agilent shares rocketed $51 to a record $159. And this is a New York Stock Exchange stock--not a Nasdaq issue.
As telecommunications companies add capacity on their networks to meet demand for Internet access, equipment makers are developing optical switches to help manage information better as it travels across the networks. Agilent said Monday that its new technology can eliminate bottlenecks on voice and data networks by switching optical signals more efficiently.
“Agilent has been a terrific story,” said Deane Dray, a Goldman, Sachs & Co. analyst who has the stock on a “recommended” list. “The valuation driver in the stock since it went public has been their communications businesses.”
Agilent’s new system, to be unveiled today at the Optical Fiber Communications Conference, eliminates the need to convert light signals into electric ones when information needs to be redirected in a fiber-optic network. That will cut costs and accelerate the transmission of information across networks.
Alcatel, Europe’s No. 2 phone-equipment maker, said Friday that it will develop with Agilent advanced switches for networks. Agilent will sell its technology to Alcatel and other companies, a spokesman said.
Agilent also is getting a boost before its first all-day analyst meeting in San Francisco this week. Operations managers from all of the Palo Alto-based company’s units will make presentations about strategy and growth prospects.
Hewlett-Packard, which still owns 84% of Agilent, got a lift from its offspring’s hot performance. HP jumped $7.88 to a record $146.50 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Other fiber-optic-related stocks gaining Monday as the industry conference began included JDS Uniphase, up $13.06 to a record $293.06, and Lightpath Technologies, up $12.19 to $59.69. Both trade on Nasdaq.
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Rising at the Speed of Light
Shares of companies involved in fiber-optic telecommunications technology surged on Monday after Agilent Technologies said it has developed a new technology to speed fiber-optic networks operated by phone companies. The start of a major industry trade show in Baltimore also helped fuel interest in the sector. A sampling of fiber-optic-related shares:
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Ticker 52-wk. 52-wk. Mon. close Stock symbol high* low* and change Agilent Technol. A $115.44 $39.81 $159.00, +$51.00 Avanex AVNX 229.50 153.50 255.94, +34.00 Ciena CIEN 189.00 16.63 176.19, +6.88 Corning Inc. GLW 207.94 47.69 209.63, +4.38 JDS Uniphase JDSU 285.69 23.63 293.06, +13.06 Lightpath Tech. LPTH 50.94 1.06 59.69, +12.19 Mitel MLT 26.00 5.00 29.50, +3.88 Nortel Networks NT 126.50 28.56 129.00, +8.50 Osicom Technol. FIBR 148.00 5.00 139.00, +5.75
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* Does not include Monday’s trading
Source: Bloomberg News
