Less than a week after announcing good news, Sprint (S) reminded investors it is still in trouble now…
Wireless
* First quarter revenues of $8.0 billion declined 9% compared to the year-ago period and declined 6% from the fourth quarter of 2007. The declines are mainly due to lower average service revenue per customer and fewer post-paid subscribers.
* Adjusted Operating Income* was a loss of $253 million compared to profits of $253 million in the first quarter of 2007 and $168 million in the fourth quarter. The decline in Adjusted Operating Income* is due to lower service revenues that were partially offset by reduced operating expenses.
* Adjusted OIBDA* was $1.8 billion in the current period compared to $2.4 billion in the 2007 first quarter and $2.2 billion in the 2007 fourth quarter. Adjusted OIBDA* in the first quarter exceeded capital expenditures for the period by a little more than $900 million
Reported diluted loss per share was 18 cents compared to a 7 cent loss in the year-ago period and a loss of $10.28 per share in the fourth quarter of 2007. The fourth quarter results include a loss of $10.32 per share from a pre-tax non-cash goodwill impairment charge of $29.5 billion.
Oh Yea…
The company lost 1.09 million subscribers to the competition and average revenue per customer dropped to $56 a month. Sprint’s now has 52.8 subscribers falling even further behind #1 AT&T (T) and #2 Verizon (VZ) who are adding customers each quarter..
Do not expect the upcomingSamsung Instinct to do anything to stopped toe exodus. With new offerings from Research in Motion’s (RIMM) Blackberry and Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone (potentially), I just do not see much interest at all in a new Samsung offering.
That being said, CEO Dan Hesse is doing the right things for the future of the company. It is just that with it being in so much trouble, the here and now will be very painful.
Disclosure (“none” means no position):None
