ADTRAN: When Bad Earnings Warnings Are Good (ADTN)
March 15, 2012 by Jon C. Ogg
How many times do you see a technology stock rally after an earnings warning? An earnings warning from ADTRAN, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADTN) was met with a rally in the stock today. The networking and communications equipment maker lowered its first quarter guidance noting that its forecast reflects its view of very-poor sentiment among capital spending plan makers in communications service providers.
The first quarter sales guidance was taken down to $130 million to $135 million against a consensus estimate of almost $175 million. Earnings were brought down to a range of $0.22 to $0.25 EPS versus estimates of $0.44 EPS. And this stock managed to post a comeback rally? Shares were trading down about 3.2% in early pre-market trading on Thursday.
Morgan Keegan said that sentiment was already weak and it lowered its price target to $31.50 on the stock. Right before the closing bell, ADTRAN shares are up 3.4% at $32.26 on 3.5 million shares. The 52-week trading range is $25.46 to $45.45.
JON C. OGG
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