Earnings Round-up: Bad News For AT&T and Sprint, While Motorola Stays Strong

[Mike Temporale]

Things just are not working out for AT&T Here's the low down on their financials.

"The Redmond, Washington-based wireless services operator, which is waiting for regulatory approval for its $41 billion sale to Cingular Wireless, said its profit was $117 million, or 4 cents a share compared with a profit of $156 million, or 6 cents a share a year earlier. Total revenue fell 2.7 percent to $4.2 billion. Even as its competitors enjoy an upswing with subscribers gabbing more on the phone and spending more on new services, AT&T Wireless continues to be hamstrung by customer defections. While it added 170,000 net new subscribers in the quarter, more than 2.3 million subscribers dropped AT&T Wireless service. It ended the quarter with 21.9 million subscribers"

The overall picture for Sprint is less than appetizing. however, their wireless business seems very strong. You can read the full report here.

"Sprint Corp. on Tuesday reported a larger loss in its third quarter, as it wrote off $3.5 billion in value for its long-distance assets and suffered from disruptions caused by hurricanes. ...The company's wireless business reported a 12 percent increase in sales to $3.2 billion and a 49 percent increase in income to $451 million. The company added 952,000 subscribers, bringing total subscribers to 23.2 million. Of the new subscribers, 523,000 came from wholesale partners and affiliates. Sprint said average revenue per wireless subscriber was $63, even with a year ago and $1 higher than in the second quarter. The rate of subscribers dropping service, or churn, was 2.7 percent, which is level with a year ago but more than the second quarter's 2.3 percent."

Now, I would like to claim that the MPx220 played some part in Motorola's 15% increase in handsets, but the reality is that the MPx220 didn't ship until Q4. So, next quarter is something we really need to watch.

"Motorola, the world's No. 2 maker of cell phones, says its quarterly profit more than tripled, but growth in handset volumes has disappointed Wall Street. Handset shipments rose 15 percent as Motorola rolled out a host of high-end models in a bid to fend off competition from No. 1 worldwide handset maker Nokia, which has been slashing prices. Meanwhile, aggressive Asian rivals like No. 3 handset maker Samsung have added cheaper phones with rich features to gain share. Motorola's third-quarter profit rose to $479 million (266 million pounds), or 20 cents a share, from $116 million, or 5 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Sales increased 26 percent to $8.62 billion, but were below analysts' average estimate of $8.67 billion, according to Reuters Estimates."

[Mike Temporale]

Things just are not working out for AT&T Here's the low down on their financials.

"The Redmond, Washington-based wireless services operator, which is waiting for regulatory approval for its $41 billion sale to Cingular Wireless, said its profit was $117 million, or 4 cents a share compared with a profit of $156 million, or 6 cents a share a year earlier. Total revenue fell 2.7 percent to $4.2 billion. Even as its competitors enjoy an upswing with subscribers gabbing more on the phone and spending more on new services, AT&T Wireless continues to be hamstrung by customer defections. While it added 170,000 net new subscribers in the quarter, more than 2.3 million subscribers dropped AT&T Wireless service. It ended the quarter with 21.9 million subscribers"

The overall picture for Sprint is less than appetizing. however, their wireless business seems very strong. You can read the full report here.

"Sprint Corp. on Tuesday reported a larger loss in its third quarter, as it wrote off $3.5 billion in value for its long-distance assets and suffered from disruptions caused by hurricanes. ...The company's wireless business reported a 12 percent increase in sales to $3.2 billion and a 49 percent increase in income to $451 million. The company added 952,000 subscribers, bringing total subscribers to 23.2 million. Of the new subscribers, 523,000 came from wholesale partners and affiliates. Sprint said average revenue per wireless subscriber was $63, even with a year ago and $1 higher than in the second quarter. The rate of subscribers dropping service, or churn, was 2.7 percent, which is level with a year ago but more than the second quarter's 2.3 percent."

Now, I would like to claim that the MPx220 played some part in Motorola's 15% increase in handsets, but the reality is that the MPx220 didn't ship until Q4. So, next quarter is something we really need to watch.

"Motorola, the world's No. 2 maker of cell phones, says its quarterly profit more than tripled, but growth in handset volumes has disappointed Wall Street. Handset shipments rose 15 percent as Motorola rolled out a host of high-end models in a bid to fend off competition from No. 1 worldwide handset maker Nokia, which has been slashing prices. Meanwhile, aggressive Asian rivals like No. 3 handset maker Samsung have added cheaper phones with rich features to gain share. Motorola's third-quarter profit rose to $479 million (266 million pounds), or 20 cents a share, from $116 million, or 5 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Sales increased 26 percent to $8.62 billion, but were below analysts' average estimate of $8.67 billion, according to Reuters Estimates."

[apeguero]

I don't think the MPX220 will make an impact on Moto's bottom line. Maybe when Moto releases the MPX and/or the Razor will it make .5% of an impact on their bottom line . I wasn't too impressed with the MPX220 which is why I decided to get the Audiovox SMT 5600 which is a great device.

[possmann]

ATT & Sprint - ukeface:

need i say more?

[ShivShanks]

Originally Posted by possmann

ATT & Sprint - ukeface:

need i say more?

Please tell us more. AT&T I can understand, but what is your problem with Sprint? From what I see they are doing quite in the Wireless business. Adding close to 1 million customers is no joke. If the future is all Wireless, Sprint seems to be well positioned. Ironic that a wireless service started in 1996 is now bigger than the once vaunted AT&T Wireless.