On Eve of Sprint Earnings, Analysts Warn, Dont Expect Much
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Sprint will report its second-fiscal-quarter earnings after the bell on Monday, and while its three main U.S. competitors have issued better-than-expected postpaid results, Canaccord Genuity analysts expect Sprint’s operating trends to be “lackluster.”
“Although the company has come a long way from the days of operating incompatible parallel networks and has very slowly modernized its network to a common standard, we suspect the transition effect of sub-par execution will continue to plague reported results,” Greg Miller and Matthew Kahn wrote in an Oct. 30 client memo. “With the fourth management team having taken over the company since we have been covering the stock, we look for a materially different outcome but will await the details of an operational plan before evaluating the probability of witnessing the long awaited turnaround.”
In other words, said Miller and Kahn, “don’t expect much” for the latest quarter – the period in which Sprint abandoned its pursuit of T-Mobile USA, fired Dan Hesse in favor of Marcelo Claure and slashed wireless pricing plans. The analysts said it’s difficult to see how Sprint will be able to halt the erosion of its customer base, because its rivals are showing increases. In addition, the industry still is awaiting details of Sprint’s turnaround plan, so there’s nothing on which to gauge possible success, Miller and Kahn said.
The analysts recommended a hold on Sprint stock.
