Adtran's Earnings Meet Targets

It also plans to buy back shares and pay a cash dividend.
By Robert Holmes ,

Communications network-equipment maker

Adtran

(ADTN) - Get Report

reported a first quarter that was in line with estimates, helped by a surge in sales for its broadband access gear.

Along with the announcement of a share buyback and a new cash dividend, shares of Adtran were up by 7%.

The Huntsville, Ala., company posted a first-quarter profit of $17 million, or 26 cents a share, compared with year-ago earnings of $16.9 million, or 24 cents a share. Analysts were expecting Adtran to earn 26 cents a share, according to Thomson First Call.

Revenue, however, jumped 9% to $119.9 million from a year ago, coming in ahead of the $116 million target analysts were expecting. The increase came as sales for broadband access equipment rose 57% from a year ago.

"Momentum in our growth businesses overcame typical seasonality and a tepid enterprise spending environment," said Adtran CEO Tom Stanton in a statement. "We believe recent trends in these businesses provide early indications of the success we anticipate in these new markets."

Adtran also said that the provision for income taxes in the first quarter was unusually high due to delays in federal legislation required to extend research tax credits for the 2008 year.

Additionally, the company's board authorized a stock repurchase of 5 million shares upon completion of the current stock buyback. The company said it has repurchased a total of 18.5 million shares since the beginning of 2004.

The board also declared a quarterly cash dividend for the first quarter of 2008 of 9 cents a share, to be paid to holders of record at the close of business on May 1.

Shares of Adtran were lately up $1.34, or 7%, to $20.43. By comparison, rival

Nortel

(NT)

was losing 1.3% to $6.84,

Alcatel-Lucent

(ALU)

was down 1% to $5.81, and

Cisco

(CSCO) - Get Report

was off 0.5% to $23.20.

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