Tellabs: No big acquisitions anytime soon

Tellabs is considering what to do with its considerable cash stores since it doesn’t see any large acquisitions in its near-term future.

The company has about $1.3 billion in cash, equivalents and investments, $28 million of which was generated in the first quarter.

“We don’t need all that cash,” Tellabs chief financial officer Tim Wiggins said in a speech to investors Thursday. “At the moment, we don’t see an acquisition that would require all that cash.”

In March, Tellabs’ chief executive officer, Krish Prabhu, said, “There aren't too many good target companies out there.”

Tellabs’ directors are currently discussing what the company should do with that cash. They’re most likely to opt for a buyback of the company’s shares, Wiggins said this week, given the company’s history of doing so. Tellabs bought more than 22 million shares of its own stock last year at between $9 and $13 per share and last summer authorized a new program to purchase up to $300 million of its own stock.