Lucent Can No Longer Confirm First-Quarter Guidance

Lucent(LU Quote) said it can no longer confirm its guidance for the first quarter and indicated that it has identified a revenue recognition issue that will remove about $125 million of revenue from the fourth quarter ended Sept. 30.

According to a First Call/Thomson Financial survey, analysts expect Lucent to break even on a per share basis for the first quarter.

The Murray Hill, N.J., technology and networking company previously reported earnings from continuing operations of 18 cents a share and revenue of $9.4 billion for the fourth quarter. The revenue recognition problem, which was discovered during the final preparation of Lucent's fiscal year financial statements, could reduce earnings for the fourth quarter and the year by 2 cents.