Alcatel-Lucent Surprises With Profit

Updated from 2:06 a.m. EDT PARIS (TheStreet) -- Telecommunications-equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent (ALU Quote) swung to a second-quarter profit of 14 million euros ($19.7 million) from a year-earlier loss of 1.1 billion euros, the first profit since its merger in 2006.

"Operationally, we are seeing positive trends in our top-line, gross margin and operating expenses," said CEO Ben Verwaayen, in a statement Thursday.

The latest quarter includes gains of 277 million euros from the sale of its satellite business and a stake in French defense company Thales.

Revenue in the quarter fell 4.8% to 3.9 billion euros.

Verwaayen said market conditions remain "difficult and operators continue to be selective about their investments," and he reiterated that the company's market should be down between 8% and 12%. But he said Alcatel-Lucent expects to make its target of adjusted operating income "around breakeven through further improvement in our margins and expense structure."

The second-quarter profit ends a streak of nine consecutive quarterly losses.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had forecast a net loss of 191 million euros in the second quarter on revenue of 3.85 billion euros.

-- Written by Joseph Woelfel in New York.