Scientific-Atlanta Inc, the maker of communications network products and one of the world’s largest manufacturers of set-top boxes, warned its investors last week that its first quarter results would fall well short of expectations. The company blamed the growing global economic crisis saying that international sales had fallen by more than half to just $54m. In contrast, domestic sales into US markets grew by $24m but total revenues and new orders were still down sequentially on the fourth quarter the company revealed. Total revenues for the quarter are set to fall by 15% to $257m while orders are down 6% to $300m and earnings per share are likely to be in the $0.03 to $0.05 region. This is less than a quarter of the consensus of expectations. The revenue decline resulted from poor sales to international customers of satellite systems, particularly into India and Eastern Europe, and from a decline in demand for analog set-top boxes.
