Two big telephone companies, Bell Atlantic Corp. and WorldCom Inc., Thursday reported first-quarter earnings about in line with expectations on Wall Street, while equipment-maker Lucent Technologies beat the Street, nearly doubling its before-charges profits.
Bell Atlantic, the nation's biggest regional phone company, said net income rose 28 percent in the quarter, while WorldCom, which is buying MCI Communications Corp., said earnings excluding one-time charges rose tenfold.
Excluding one-time charges related to the Nynex Corp. merger, Bell Atlantic earnings were US$1.32 a share, compared with $1.20 a share in the 1997 quarter, matching Wall Street forecasts, according to First Call, which tracks estimates.
WorldCom, the No. 4 long-distance company, said earnings before one-time charges jumped to $186 million, or 18 cents a share, in the quarter, from $18 million, or 2 cents a share, a year earlier. Including one-time charges to write-off research costs and other items, WorldCom had a loss of $416 million for the quarter, or 41 cents a share. Revenues jumped 38 percent to $2.35 billion from $1.70 billion, due to growth in its core long-distance business and the acquisitions of CompuServe Network Services and ANS Communications, the company said. Traffic rose 38 percent in the quarter, according to the Jackson, Miss.-based company.
Meanwhile, telecommunications equipment-maker Lucent Technologies reported second-quarter earnings better than analysts had expected. Excluding a one-time $157 million acquisition-related charge, its profit more than doubled in comparison to its results for the same period last year. Earnings, excluding the charge, rose to $180 million, or 14 cents a share, compared to $66 million or 5 cents a share a year ago. Revenue topped $6.15 billion, compared with $5.15 billion a year ago. Even after including the after-tax charge of $157 million -- for the January acquisition of Prominent -- Lucent's net income was $23 million.
