Datum 4th-Quarter Earnings to Fall Short of Expectations

IRVINE — Datum Inc. expects fourth-quarter sales and earnings to fall short of analysts’ expectations because of a slowdown in the expansion of wireless phone networks.

Datum, which makes equipment used to track information in phone networks, said it expects to break even for the three months. Analysts were expecting the company to earn 24 cents a share.

Sales will be $21 million to $23 million. As of October, analysts were expecting fourth-quarter sales of about $33 million.

“After three excellent quarters, we find ourselves with a quarterly revenue downturn,” said Louis Horwitz, chairman and chief executive.

The news was released after the close of U.S. trading. Datum shares rose 6 cents to $18.94 on the Nasdaq market before the trading halt.

The company’s stock was pummeled late in October after Datum said that a major customer had changed its method of ordering the company’s products, causing third-quarter earnings to fall below analysts’ estimates. In less than a week, the stock tumbled to $16.25 from $25.63 a share.

Datum blamed the lower-than-expected fourth-quarter results on a “slowing of PCS and cellular deployment,” although it wasn’t more specific. PCS, or personal communications services, is a wireless network used to transmit voice and data.

For the fourth quarter of 1996, Datum earned 23 cents a share on sales of $27.5 million.

For the year, Datum said it expects earnings of 90 cents a share on sales of $113 million to $115 million. Analysts were expecting the company to earn $1.14 a share.