Here is a look at more of Tuesday's top business stories:
Lucent Tech posts $909 million loss
MURRAY HILL, N.J., Oct. 23 (UPI) -- Telecommunications equipment maker Lucent Technologies Inc. said it posted a fourth quarter operating loss of $909 million, or 27 cents a share, excluding one-time items, compared with a loss of $11 million, or zero cents a share during the same period last year.
Analysts on Wall Street had expected the company to post a loss of 23 cents a share, according to Thomson Financial/First Call.
Including an $8 billion restructuring charge and the loss from discontinued operations, Lucent posted a loss of $8.8 billion, or $2.59 a share.
Sales fell 28 percent to $5.2 billion from $7.2 billion a year ago.
Lucent previously said its operating results would improve every quarter this year. It lost $1.2 billion, or 35 cents a share, in the third quarter.
"We delivered continued improvement in the bottom line and a solid top-line performance in the face of sharply reduced spending throughout the industry," said Lucent Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Henry Schacht.
"Despite the short-term weakness in the market, we believe that our Phase II restructuring actions will drive our return to profitability and positive cash flow in fiscal year 2002," Schacht said.
Looking ahead Schacht said, "As we said on Aug. 23, the market continues to decline. Like others in the industry, we now believe the overall market decline in 2002 will be 15-to-20 percent, and our targeted market will be down 10 percent or more.
"We think industry spending in our first fiscal quarter of 2002 will be even lower than these levels due to the increased uncertainty after Sept. 11 and the spending patterns of our large North American customers," he said.
Commenting on guidance for the first fiscal quarter of 2002, Schacht said, "We expect to, once again, deliver sequential improvement on the bottom line thanks to our restructuring activities. As to the top line, we expect our revenues to decline sequentially.
"We believe our revenues will improve in the second fiscal quarter of 2002. In fact, we are seeing early signs of increased customer spending in some segments of our business for that quarter. This isn't surprising because even our customers' reduced forecasts for calendar 2002 are still higher than their rate of spending in the current quarter, Schacht said.
Xerox posts loss
STAMFORD, Conn., Oct. 23 (UPI) -- Xerox Corp. said it posted a third quarter loss of $211 million, or 29 cents a share, compared with a loss of $191 million, or 30 cents a share during the same period last year.
Excluding restructuring charges of 5 cents a share, Xerox reported a third quarter loss of 24 cents a share.
Analysts on Wall Street had expected the company to post a loss of 24 cents a share, according to Thomson Financial/First Call.
Revenues declined 13 percent to $3.9 billion from $4.5 billion a year ago. Pre-currency revenue declined 12 percent.
The office equipment maker, which last October initiated a turnaround plan aimed at cutting costs, raising cash, and focusing on core strengths, also said it has since implemented actions that will achieve $1 billion in cost cuts, including the reduction of close to 11,000 staff positions worldwide.
"Xerox was prepared for significant challenges in the third quarter due to weakened economies. Despite expected revenue declines, our results in July and August exceeded expectations, evidence of our much improved operations," said Anne M. Mulcahy, Xerox president and chief executive officer.
"However, the dramatic economic downturn since the events of Sept. 11 resulted in an unprecedented loss in September, driven by disproportionate revenue decreases during the last two weeks of the month," Mulcahy said.
Xerox said while revenue in North America and Europe declined, both regions showed significant year-over-year bottom-line improvement led by increased profitability in North America.
Revenue in the company's developing markets was down 34 percent, reflecting weakened economies and reduced equipment placements in Latin America as the company reconfigures these operations to maximize liquidity versus gaining market share.
In October of last year, Xerox announced plans to reduce $1 billion in costs by the close of 2001.
Today the company reported that it has implemented actions that will achieve the entire $1 billion target, including the reduction of close to 11,000 positions worldwide through the combination of early retirement and voluntary leave programs, attrition and layoffs.
"In the past 12 months, Xerox has implemented a strategy to restore the company's financial strength by generating cash, reducing debt and cutting costs -- all while investing in the future through research and development," Mulcahy said.
"While our progress to date has been significant, we will intensify our cost-reduction activities to help lessen the impact from heightened economic concerns," Mulcahy said.
Commenting on expectations for the fourth quarter, Mulcahy said, "We remain cautiously optimistic that the benefits from our turnaround program will position the company for a return to operational profitability. However, the uncertainty in the marketplace presents significant challenges and will lessen the sequential increase in fourth-quarter revenue."
Xerox also reiterated that it remains in full compliance with its debt covenants and estimates that its consolidated tangible net worth cushion is approximately $175 million.
Earnings rise at AT&T Wireless
REDMOND, Wash., Oct. 23 (UPI) -- AT&T Wireless Services Inc. said its third quarter net income jumped to $77 million, or 3 cents a share, from a net loss of $21 million, or 1 cent a share during the same period last year.
Analysts on Wall Street were expecting the company to report a loss of 2 cents a share, according to Thomson Financial/First Call.
Cash flow, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, for the quarter was $718 million.
EBITDA along with revenues and subscriber additions are a key measure of performance in capital intensive businesses like wireless.
The company reported a 25.1 percent increase in total revenues for the quarter to $3.50 billion compared with $2.80 billion a year ago.
Services revenue for its mobility business, which sells cell phone service, rose 29.1 percent to $3.24 billion from $2.51 billion.
The company said it added 748,000 mobile customers in the quarter compared with its target of 700,000 to 750,000 new subscribers.
Minutes of use per subscriber reached a record level of 389 average minutes per subscriber per month in the third quarter, an increase from 348 minutes in the year-ago quarter and 383 minutes in the second quarter of 2001.
"For the seventh consecutive quarter, AT&T Wireless has delivered strong growth in network coverage, customers and revenues," said AT&T Wireless Chairman and CEO John D. Zeglis.
"This continues the company's rapid growth since AT&T Wireless announced plans to become a tracking stock in December of 1999. In that time, we've grown our consolidated coverage from a total population of 114 million to 166 million, an increase of 46 percent.
"With the completion of our acquisition of TeleCorp PCS next year, our consolidated covered markets will increase to 198 million. Since the end of 1999, we've increased our subscriber base by nearly 80 percent and, we've added over $1.25 billion more in quarterly services revenue," Zeglis said.
The company also said it decided to exist the fixed wireless business and expects to take a related pretax charge in the fourth quarter of $1.3 billion.
When AT&T Wireless became an independent company this past summer, it committed to maintaining a strong balance sheet and financial flexibility. At that time, the company said its fixed wireless business -- while not aligned with its core strategy -- had the potential to deliver value to shareowners, provided it met key financial targets going forward.
In the third quarter, the fixed wireless unit did not meet its financial targets.
In addition, the company said capital markets are under increased pressure and the company determined that the fixed wireless business would require significant additional capital to gain the scale necessary for long-term success.
Ameritrade Holding posts flat results
OMAHA, Neb., Oct. 23 (UPI) -- Ameritrade Holding Corp. said it posted break-even pretax earnings from continuing operations for the three months ended Sept. 28 of $1.5 million, or zero cents per share. The results excluded a gain from the sale of a stake in an online investment bank.
The company did not provide comparable year-ago figures.
Net revenues fell to $92.2 million from $138 million a year ago.
Analysts on Wall Street had been expecting Ameritrade to report a loss of 2 cents a share for the quarter, according to Thomson Financial/First Call.
Including a special gain and a restructuring charge, the company posted a net loss of $14 million, or 7 cents per share, compared with a net income of $286,000 million, or zero cents a share during the same period last year.
"During the past several months Ameritrade announced a number of strategic steps all designed to maximize shareholder value. We strengthened our balance sheet, eliminated redundancies and improved operational efficiencies," said Joe Moglia, chief executive officer of Ameritrade.
"Further, our acquisition of NDB.com closed in 37 days, adding immediate earnings and revenue accretion and 319,000 accounts."
Moglia said, "We met our commitment to maintain back-to-back quarters of positive cash-flow and break-even results from ongoing operations and expect profitability to continue to improve."
Looking ahead, Moglia said, "We're in a strong position to grow our business, despite volatility and uncertainty in the marketplace. We are prepared to manage for profitability in any market condition. Even if markets deteriorate, we expect to increase our profitability next year -- that's the power of Ameritrade's operating leverage."
