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SDL rallies on 3Q earnings, analyst comments

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SDL shares moved up $38.13, or 13 percent, to $327.25 Friday after it easily hurdled analysts' estimates in its third quarter.

The news also bumped soon-to-be parent JDS Uniphase (Nasdaq: JDSU) 10 percent.

SDL (Nasdaq: SDLI) earned $40.4 million, or 45 cents a share, on sales of $146.5 million.

First Call Corp. consensus pegged it for a loss of 38 cents a share in the quarter.

The $146.5 million in sales marks a 208 percent jump from the year-ago quarter when it made $7.8 million, or 11 cents a share, on sales of $47.5 million.

On Friday, Credit Suisse First Boston analyst James Parmelee lifted his fourth-quarter estimate for SDL to 49 cents a share from 44 cents. For 2001, he raised his outlook to $2.50 from $2.00.

ABN Amro increased its earnings estimate for 2000 to $1.51 per share from $1.35 and for 2001 to $2.51 from $1.97. Revenue estimates were also raised for 2000 to $498 million from $484.7 million and revenues in 2001 lifted to $1 billion from an earlier forecast of $821.4 million.

"SDL's record financial performance in the third quarter reflects our leadership position in multiple sectors of the fiber optics communications market," said CEO Donald Scifres in a prepared release. "With the many long-term contracts and design wins accomplished this year, we are able to project that SDL will be a $1 billion company in 2001.''

Including merger expenses, purchased intangible amortization charges, non- cash stock compensation expense and payroll tax on stock options, the company reported a net loss of $115.8 million, or $1.34 a share.

JDS will report its first quarter results next week. Analysts are expecting the fiber-optic component supplier to post a profit of 16 cents per share.

It announced its acquisition of SDL in July, in a deal worth around $41 billion.

SDL watched it shares rally up to a 52-week high of $460.50 in July after falling to a low of $38.81 last October.

All 19 analysts following the stock rate it either a "buy" or "strong buy."

Analysts expect it to earn $1.37 a share in the fiscal year.

  • Corvis (Nasdaq: CORV) shares moved up $7.50, or 13 percent, to $67.19 Friday after it posted a smaller-than-expected loss in its third quarter, losing $23.9 million, or 7 cents a share, on sales of $22.9 million.

    First Call Corp. consensus expected it to lose 9 cents a share in the quarter.

    This was the company's first quarterly earnings report since its successful initial public offering in July.

    Analysts expect it to post a loss of 37 cents a share in the fiscal year.