JDSU (Nasdaq: JDSU; Toronto: JDU) may be getting stung by overly sunny investor expectations, as its stock is being pummeled today after the company reported what appear to be satisfactory quarterly earnings.

JDSU stock was down 29 cents (8%) at $3.35 in after-hours trading.

For its third quarter, which ended March 31, JDSU reported net income of $3.7 million, or zero cents per share, on revenues of $314.9 million, compared with net losses of $42.1 million, or 3 cents per share, on revenues of $312.9 million the previous quarter. (See JDSU Reports Q3.)

For its third quarter a year ago, JDSU reported losses of $38.6 million, or 3 cents per share, on revenues of $166.3 million.

JDSU caught a classic case of the whispers, it appears. That is, investors might have been looking for the company to hit the "whisper numbers," expectations that are higher than the official analyst consensus.

In fact, JDSU's earnings met analyst expectations as tallied by Reuters Research , and its fourth-quarter forecast of $302 million to $322 million in revenues technically fits the $316.9 million analyst consensus. But that figure is obviously on the high side of the range JDSU gave out. Moreover, the past week saw Wall Street whispering about a strong quarter from JDSU, which might have led investors to hope for breakout third-quarter earnings and/or bigger fourth-quarter revenues.

During the third quarter, JDSU's optical communications sales grew 25 percent from last year's figures, to $127.5 million.

Test and measurement, consisting mainly of the Acterna Corp. acquisition, was down 13 percent from the previous quarter, at $126.8 million -- but analysts and JDSU had expected that, as Acterna sales dip at the beginning of every calendar year. (See JDSU Buys Into Testy Market.)

— Craig Matsumoto, Senior Editor, Light Reading