Sprint posts $1.6 billion Q4 loss

The holiday rush has been over for quite some time and usually provides companies some much needed revenue. In Sprint’s case though, they reported a $1.6 billion loss for the fourth quarter ending December 31. Revenue fell 14 percent to $8.4 billion from $9.8 billion when analysts expected $8.55 billion. The loss is mainly due to writing off $1 billion in goodwill for the remaining value of the 2005 Nextel Communications purchase. If the write off was not taken into consideration, the company said it would have lost a penny per share. It’s by far better than the 3-cent-a-share loss expected, on average, by analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters. Additionally, they continued to lose subscribers to other carriers and reported total subscriptions at 49.3 million; down 8.4 percent from 2007. Another key aspect to look at was Sprint’s churn, the measure of subscriber turnover, which was 2.16 percent during the quarter and down 2.29 percent from last year. But through it all, shares climbed to a higher opening in morning trading due to better than expected predictions from Wall Street. Investors and everyone in the industry will be eyeing the number three wireless carrier this summer to see how the Palm Pre will turn out.

source: Yahoo