Finisar Wins Big on Mixed Earnings and Guidance

By Chris Lange Updated Jan 12, 10:59AM EST · Published Jun 16, 12:14PM EDT

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Finisar Wins Big on Mixed Earnings and Guidance — © Thinkstock

When Finisar Corp. (NASDAQ: FNSR) reported its fiscal fourth-quarter financial results after the markets closed on Thursday, the company said that it had $0.50 in earnings per share (EPS) and $357.5 million in revenue. Consensus estimates had called for $0.50 in EPS and revenue of $362.3 million. The same period of last year reportedly had EPS of $0.29 and $318.79 million in revenue.

Although revenues grew from last year, the top line in the fourth quarter was still a decrease of $23.1 million, or (6.1%) from $380.6 million in the third quarter.

Compared with the fiscal third quarter, sales of datacom products decreased by $2.8 million, or −1.1%, and sales of telecom products decreased by $20.2 million, or −18.2%.

In terms of the outlook for the fiscal first quarter, the company expects to see EPS in the range of $0.37 to $0.43 and revenues between $330 million and $350 million. Consensus estimates are $0.51 in EPS and $367.2 million in revenue.

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On the books, Finisar cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments totaled $1.2 billion at the end of the fourth quarter, up 22.56 million from the same period last year.

Jerry Rawls, CEO of Finisar, commented:

Revenues for fiscal 2017, were $1.449 billion, an all-time record for Finisar and an increase of $186.1 million, or 14.7%, over fiscal 2016. Despite continued robust demand in our fourth fiscal quarter for our 100G QSFP28 transceivers for datacenter applications, which grew over 30% over the third quarter, our overall revenues were $357.5 million, a decrease of $23.1 million, or 6.1%, compared to the third quarter. This decline was primarily the result of a decline in telecom revenues due to lower revenues from our Chinese OEM customers and the impact of the full three months of the annual telecom price erosion.

Shares of Finisar were trading up over 9% at $28.06 on Friday, with a consensus analyst price target of $36.82 and a 52-week range of $16.73 to $36.85.

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About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.