Here's a simple recipe to make a stock price rise. First, revise sales and earnings guidance upward. Then, add an analyst upgrade to "outperform." Mix the ingredients, cook for an hour and a half, and then watch your stock price take off in the marketplace.
ADTRAN
ADTRAN CEO Mark Smith attributed the increased performance to "stronger than anticipated" orders for current and new products. He added that he expects the momentum to continue and translate into more market-share gains.
As a result, the stock was up by as much as 12% today.
ADTRAN provides telecommunications equipment -- especially DSL equipment -- to giants like Verizon
In addition, ADTRAN is in the running to be a supplier of equipment for Verizon and SBC FTTP (fiber-to-the-premises) projects. Getting those last-mile connections up and running is an important part of pushing video services, such as IPTV (Internet Protocol TV), to a critical mass. If it can do that, it can pose a serious threat to cable TV. And doing so would be a great source of future revenue for ADTRAN.
It appears that the good news is in the price of the stock, because ADTRAN is up almost 50% since January, although the telecommunications sector is plenty volatile. But ADTRAN is a solid company that's right in the thick of things with a good product development strategy. So keep an eye out for any serious pullback in the stock price.
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Fool contributor David Meier does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.