Why Finisar Shares Plunged Today

What happened

Shares of optical component maker Finisar (NASDAQ: FNSR) have plunged today, down by 9% as of 12 p.m. EST, after the company reported fiscal third-quarter results. The company's telecom business has been particularly weak.

So what

Revenue in the quarter came in at $332.4 million, which translated into non-GAAP net income of $22.8 million, or $0.20 per share. Both top- and bottom-line results fell short of consensus estimates, which called for $333 million in revenue and $0.23 per share in adjusted profit. Sales of vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) arrays for 3D sensing applications continue to grow nicely, but not enough to offset weakness in the telecom business.

Ethernet cable with fiber optics

Image source: Getty Images.

Sales of telecom products fell 12% during the quarter to $66.3 million.

Now what

"We experienced strong demand and record revenues in our third fiscal quarter for our 100G QSFP28 transceivers for datacenters as well as higher revenue for our VCSEL arrays for 3D sensing," CEO Michael Hurlston said in a statement. "However, our overall revenues for the third fiscal quarter only grew modestly to $332.4 million, as the growth from 100G QSFP28 and VCSEL arrays was offset by decline in revenue from telecom products, as well as lower revenues from our 40G QSFP and 100G CFP and CFP2 ethernet datacom transceivers."

Guidance also came up short. Fiscal fourth-quarter revenue is expected to be in the range of $300 million to $320 million, with non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.09 to $0.15. The Street was expecting $332 million in sales and an adjusted profit of $0.21 per share.

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Evan Niu, CFA has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.