Finisar Flops on Outlook

Optical networking gear makers Avanex (AVNX Quote) and Finisar (FNSR Quote) posted mixed results late Tuesday.

Fremont, Calif.-based Avanex eked out an adjusted profit of $49,000, or less than a penny a share, for the fiscal fourth quarter. Those numbers compare with a prior-quarter loss of $3 million, or 1 cent a share, and a year-ago pro forma loss of 4 cents a share.

Avanex booked $51.1 million in sales, down from $55.1 million in the prior quarter but up from $45.5 million last year.

Analysts were looking for a break-even quarter on $50.7 million in sales, according to Reuters Research.

For the full year, Avanex had an adjusted net loss of $13.5 million, or 6 cents a share, compared to a pro forma loss of $42.5 million, or 26 cents a share, last year.

"We are very pleased with the significant progress we made during fiscal year 2007," CEO Jo Major said in a press release.

Looking ahead, Avanex expects fiscal first-quarter sales of about $53.5 million. Analysts had expected sales of $54.9 million in the current quarter.

Meanwhile, due to a review of its stock options accounting, Finisar offered only a partial view of its fiscal first quarter ended July 29.

The Sunnyvale, Calif., tech shop reported sales of $105.7 million. That's up more than 8% from the prior quarter, but below $106.2 million last year.

Analysts had expected sales of $108.2 million in the quarter, according to Reuters Research.

"We were pleased to see revenues bounce back from last quarter as we recovered from a number of customer supply chain and excess inventory issues," CEO Jerry Rawls said in a press release.

In postclose action, Finisar shares were down 16 cents to $3.60 and Avanex rose 2 cents to $1.72. Elsewhere in the optical gear sector, Bookham (BKHM Quote) was up less than a penny to $2.65 and JDSU (JDSU Quote) was unchanged at $15.13 after surging 57 cents in regular trading.