JDS Falls After Laying Off 3,000

JDS Uniphase (Nasdaq: JDSU) fell US$2.81 to $29.81 in morning trading Tuesday after announcing 3,000 layoffs.

JDS, an Ottawa, Ontario-based maker of fiber-optic components, said most of the cuts will cover manufacturing jobs in San Jose, California and Nepean, Ontario.

The reductions "reflect opportunities for realignment and improved efficiency as a result of the current business environment," the company said.

JDS said it still intends to hire people for positions in "high-growth product areas," and to "aggressively support" new product development.

JDS recently lowered its estimates for sales and earnings for the quarter ending March 31st. Sales for the quarter will be "at or slightly above $1 billion," with earnings before extraordinary items of 17 cents per share, below analyst expectations for per-share earnings of 21 cents.

For the year as a whole, the company projected sales of $3.9 billion and earnings of 74 cents per share.

"This guidance reflects continued uncertainty in carrier capital spending prospects and customer inventory adjustments, as well as a lower level of near-term sales visibility than the company has experienced in recent periods," JDS Uniphase said.

JDS recently completed the acquisition of rival component maker SDL and sold its Zurich subsidiary to Nortel (NYSE: NT) Networks.

"We are delighted to have the strong team from SDL join JDS Uniphase, and now with the merger complete, our challenge now is threefold: to collaborate, integrate and innovate, all with the highest degree of agility," said JDS co-chairman and chief executive officer Jozef Straus.

JDS shares are down from a 52-week high of $153, hurt by a drop in demand for technology stocks and by news that its larger customers, such as Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO), are seeing declining business.