Lucent Expects Revenue Drop

Lucent Technologies Inc. said Thursday that it expects its third-quarter revenue to decline by 10% to 15% from the previous quarter, falling short of Wall Street expectations that revenue would match the previous three-month period. Its shares were down 5% when the New York Stock Exchange closed.

Lucent’s guidance indicated its revenue would be $2.99 billion to $3.17 billion for the April-June period, down from $3.52 billion in revenue recorded in its second quarter.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call had been expecting Lucent would report revenue of $3.52 billion for its third quarter.

“Service providers continue to constrain their capital spending to conserve cash, which is clearly affecting our top line,” said Patricia Russo, Lucent’s chief executive.

Even with the drop in revenue, Lucent said it expects its bottom line to improve from a second-quarter pro forma loss of 20 cents a share. That loss included a tax charge of 6 cents a share.

The company said it’s still too early to know if its third-quarter results would improve on the loss of 14 cents a share excluding the tax charge in the second quarter. Analysts were looking for a loss of 10 cents a share in the third quarter.

Shares of Murray Hill, N.J.-based Lucent declined 15 cents to $2.80.

Third-quarter earnings are scheduled to be released July 23.

Chief Financial Officer Frank D’Amelio said restructuring efforts remain on track and Lucent will reach an employee base closer to 50,000 by the end of its fiscal year Sept. 30.

The company has said it expects a return to profitability during fiscal 2003.

Lucent makes switching equipment and other high-tech products for telephone and Internet service providers.