ZTE has issued upbeat guidance for its first quarter earnings, and expressed optimism for the year ahead thanks to strong global demand for 4G equipment.
The Chinese vendor said it expects net profit attributable to shareholders for the three months ended 31 March to come in at between 425 million yuan and CNY637 million (€49.3 million-€73.8 million), an increase of between 107.3% to 210.7% on the same period a year ago.
ZTE said in a statement on Thursday that it expects to post "significant increases" in first quarter gross profit and gross profit margin, driven by its focus on higher-margin contracts.
"Operating revenue from 4G infrastructure systems in China as a percentage of overall revenue increased, while gross profit margins for international projects improved," ZTE said.
The company said it is optimistic about its prospects going forward thanks to accelerating 4G network deployments and strong demand for 4G devices.
The forecast comes just two weeks after ZTE reported full-year 2013 results showing that it swung to a CNY1.36 billion profit (€159 million) from a CNY2.84 billion loss in 2012. Gross profit margin improved by 5.58 percentage points to 29.39%
However, operating revenue came in at CNY75.23 billion (€8.8 billion), down 10.6% from CNY84.1 billion in 2012.