SiliconBeat

If you were going to put out a release you hoped few would notice, a Thursday eve prior to the July 4th holiday and a long weekend would seem as good time as you could find. That’s when Catapult Communications of Mountain View chose to tell the world that it expects to report sales of $8.5 million for its third fiscal quarter ended Monday. That’s down about 14 percent from the company’s original estimate of $9.9 million.

Richard Karp, the company’s chief executive said that although the results will be “only slightly better than last year,” — oh so slightly better, given that year-ago sales totaled $8,475,000 –  “a new technology cycle has definitely begun” for the next-generation wireless technology, “and there is every indication that we will be a significant player as this cycle progresses. In the interim, we will continue to manage costs carefully.”

In March Catapult said it would lay off up to 25 employees, and announced the resignation of Guy Simpson, its vice president of applications engineering.

Shares of Catapult jumped 40 percent in April, the month the company made its original estimate for the just-completed quarter. Luckily for Catapult traders have taken an early exit for the July 4th holiday and were unable to cast any after-hours votes on the latest news.