Nortel up on Q1

After a flurry of discouraging news in recent months, Nortel Networks Ltd. released brighter financial results for the first quarter and better expectations for the remainder of the year.
First-quarter revenues reached $2.48 billion, which represents a 4% increase from the same period last year and a slight jump on Wall Street’s expectation of $2.47 billion.
The Toronto-based company experienced a net loss of $103 million last quarter. The gross margin for the quarter was 40% of total revenue, and operating margin came in at a loss of 0.4%, which still marks an improvement from the same period last year.
“While our first-quarter results demonstrated significantly improved financial performance, we must and will continue our relentless pursuit of customer satisfaction and business transformation to deliver on our 2007 business plan,” President and CEO Mike Zafirovski said.
Nortel’s stock was up slightly more than 0.5% on the news to around $27.96 per share; however the stock experienced substantial growth earlier in the week when Nortel gave a preview of what it expected from the quarter report.
“Nortel today is different than the Nortel of a year ago,” Zafirovski commented. “I see a new Nortel emerging, a Nortel that is focused on the customer. A Nortel that grows and creates value as we help our customers seize the opportunities that exist in the market.”