As we expected (CI No 3,245), Ascend Communications Inc is warning that it estimates weak revenues for its third quarter ending September 30 – in the range of $260-270 million, up from $249 million reported in the same quarter last year. The company expects earnings for the quarter will be $0.18-0.20 per share, down from $0.29 per share a year ago, and well-shy of the $0.31 First Call was expecting. Ascend says that its difficulties in the quarter are mostly attributable to delays in rolling out its MAX TNT product to international customers as well as soft demand for access ports outside of North America. The company specifically blames slowed demand for PCs in Japan which resulted in a weaker demand for ports, and subscriber growth in Southern Europe that has lagged behind the network build-outs that took place earlier this year. Ascend expects to release final results for the third quarter on October 9. Earnings per share for the year-ago period exclude one-time acquisition charges.
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