Shares of Powerwave Technologies Inc. nose-dived after the company last week said it would miss revenue estimates.
The Santa Ana-based company,a maker of amplifiers and other gear for wireless phone networks,had expected sales of $240 million to $250 million in the first quarter. Now it sees $190 million and $200 million.
The company gave no profit estimate.
Powerwave Chief Executive Ron Buschur blamed “stronger seasonality than we expected” and “slower-than-expected demand from a major North American wireless network operator.”
Buschur said he expects demand to rise throughout the remainder of the year.
Buschur took over as chief executive from Bruce Edwards early last year. Edwards is executive chairman of the company.
Powerwave has been one of Orange County’s hotter stocks, nearly doubling its value in the past year,until last week.
The company, which has a market value of about $1.2 billion, saw extremely heavy trading volume following the announcement, with shares falling 22%.
They rebounded about 5% later in the week to $11.40 at a recent check.
Investors traded more than 20 million shares, more than eight times the volume the stock usually gets in one day.
Powerwave earlier this year agreed to sell a plant in the Philippines to Toronto-based Celestica Inc. in a bid to cut costs. The $19 million deal transferred about 600 workers to Celestica.
,Brian Womack
