Lucent, Baidu Post Mixed Results

Third-quarter earnings continue to be a mixed bag, with Lucent and Baidu.com the latest firms to feel investors’ wrath for results that weren’t quite up to expectations.

Shares of Lucent lost 5.8% Wednesday after the telecom equipment company’s sales of $2.43 billion were up only slightly from the year-ago quarter and below what analysts were looking for. Looking ahead, the company forecast 5% growth over the next year, and said it plans to continue to trim jobs, as wireless sales begin to slow.

After the close on Wednesday, Baidu.com tumbled 15% after its first results as a publicly-traded company missed estimates. The two analysts tracking the company expected Baidu to report a profit of four to six cents a share. The company’s sales rose 27.6% sequentially to $11 million, but earnings of three cents a share were below forecasts.

Stocks fell during the day on a disappointing outlook from Amazon.com and a sharp rise in long-term interest rates.

The Nasdaq fell 9 to 2100, the S&P 500 lost 5 to 1191, and the Dow fell 33 to 10,344. Volume rose to 2.47 billion shares on the NYSE, and 1.88 billion on the Nasdaq. Decliners led 22-10 on the NYSE, and 17-12 on the Nasdaq. Downside volume was 66% on the NYSE, and 67% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 62-181 on the NYSE, and 78-74 on the Nasdaq.

Amazon.com tumbled 14% on its results.

Research In Motion edged higher after an adverse Supreme Court ruling raised hopes of a settlement with NTP.

Adobe climbed 2.8% after raising guidance.

Microsoft edged higher ahead of its results due out late Thursday.

Agere jumped 12% on its results, while CA and Check Free climbed 3% each on their earnings.

F5 soared 24% on its results, while Flextronics fell by that much after posting a loss and lowering guidance.

InfoSpace rose 14% on its numbers.