Nortel Back in Black on Strong Orders

Nortel Networks reported a third-quarter profit Tuesday but fell short of revenue expectations, as trouble fulfilling certain orders forced it to defer revenue.

Nortel , North America's biggest maker of telephone equipment, said it earned $27 million, or 5 cents per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with a year-earlier loss of $63 million, or 14 cents a share.

But the company reported a 7.8 percent dip in its third-quarter revenue due mainly to difficulty in filling some customer orders which resulted in the deferral of $45 million in revenue. Revenue for the quarter was $2.70 billion, down from $2.93 billion a year earlier.

Analysts expected Nortel to earn 12 cents per share before one-time items on revenue of $2.78 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.

Nortel booked $56 million in restructuring charges during the quarter, compared with $22 million for the same quarter a year earlier, the company said.

The company said it expected fourth-quarter revenue to be flat compared with the same quarter last year, while full-year revenue was expected to be down slightly from 2006.