Earnings season for optical networking and components players is kicking into high gear and it's reflecting phenomenal growth in the industry. Despite such good news, many of these stocks took a hit with the rest of the market on Tuesday.

Some of the earnings announcements in the past week have included:

* Juniper Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: JNPR) reported revenues for the second quarter of 2000 of $113.0 million, a sequential increase of 77 percent from the first quarter of 2000. Pro forma net income was $28.6 million or $0.08 per share.

* Redback Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: RBAK) quarterly revenue rose 340 percent to $48.7 million from $11.1 million in the same period a year earlier. The company reported a loss of $5.7 million, or 5 cents a share, wider than last year’s equivalent loss of $2.6 million, or 6 cents a share.

* PMC-Sierra Inc. (Nasdaq: PMCS) reported second quarter earnings of $39 million, or 23 cents a share, compared with $13.4 million, or 9 cents a share, in the same quarter last year. Net revenues for the first six months of $236.9 million were 115 percent higher than in the first half of 1999.* Broadcom Inc. (Nasdaq: BRCM) reported quarterly revenue of $245.2 million, an increase of 105 percent over the $119.5 million reported in the second quarter of 1999. Net income, before one-time charges, was $57.4 million, or $.23 per share.

Despite the robust growth reported by all these companies, shares were down substantially on Monday and Tuesday. Much of it was related to the overall technology market, which was weak. Many of the optical networking and components stocks had been on a substantial run leading up to earnings news.

"When the market goes down 100 points, these guys are going to go down their fair share," says Alan Bezoza, an analyst with CIBC World Markets (http://www.cibc.com). "We had a good run so maybe its profit-taking."

You can't really excuse investors for cashing in a little bit of their newfound wealth. For example, since May 1, Redback Networks is up 70 percent and Juniper Networks is up 50 percent. Broadcom, recently added to the Standard & Poors 500 Index, is up 41% since May 1. And those are the gains after these stocks shed between two and six percent of their value on Tuesday. Some of the closely watched optical-related earnings reports coming this week include Tellabs Inc. (Nasdaq: TLAB), which reports on Wednesday, and Lucent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: LU), which reports on Thursday.

By R. Scott Raynovich, Executive Editor, Light Reading (http://www.lightreading.com)