Oclaro Makes Changes at the Top

Alain Couder is out as CEO, as the optical components vendor continues to try to steady the ship

By Craig Matsumoto, Light Reading
June 07, 2013
URL: http://www.lightreading.com/transceivers/oclaro-makes-changes-at-the-top/240156274

Oclaro Inc. has changed CEOs, announcing Friday morning that it's swapped out Alain Couder in favor of board member Greg Dougherty.

In addition, the company has appointed board member Marissa Peterson as chairwoman.

Oclaro's stock was up 12 cents (11.7 percent) at $1.15 late Friday.

Why this matters
Oclaro disappointed investors in May with a weak third quarter (non-GAAP losses of 37 cents per share, compared with expectations of 33 cents according to Thomson Reuters).

The company also forecast fourth-quarter revenues of $132 million to $144 million; Wall Street had expected more like $157 million, analyst Simon Leopold of Raymond James Financial Inc. noted in a May 8 report.

Leopold doesn't consider Oclaro an acquisition candidate for competitors Finisar Corp. or JDS Uniphase Corp. "given the complexity of Oclaro's operations after numerous of acquisitions." Keep in mind Oclaro is the merger of Avanex and Bookham, each of which had amassed a few acquisitions on their own.

What stings is that the optical business is on the upswing -- at least, parts of it are. Ciena Corp. cashed in on deployment of 100Gbit/s to report a surprisingly good second quarter Thursday, adding that a strong third quarter is underway. That's a good sign for other optical components companies, including Finisar, JDSU and NeoPhonetics, as analyst Alex Henderson of Needham & Co. wrote in his Ciena earnings report.

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— Craig Matsumoto, Managing Editor, Light Reading