Alcatel-Lucent Gets Big Deal

Alcatel-Lucent(ALU),the Franco-American telecom giant,has landed a huge contract with Verizon Communications.It is a three year,six billion dollar network expansion and improvement deal.ALU offers an encyclopedic array of products and services worldwide,but its stock has been pummeled because of a low earnings forecast on account of merger costs.Late last year,the Paris-based Alcatel completed its merger with Lucent Technologies,the former Western Electric component of the old Bell System.Alcatel-Lucent is headed by American CEO Patricia Russo.