Earnings Preview: Sprint Nextel Corp.

Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) is expected to report Q3 earnings on Thursday, October 29 before the market open with a conference call scheduled for 10 am ET.

Guidance

Analysts are looking for EPS of 53c on revenue of $3.07B. The consensus range is 48c-59c for EPS, and $2.97B-$3.18B for revenue, according to First Call. The company continues to expect that post-paid and total subscriber FY09 losses should improve as compared to 2008. In addition, the company expects that FY09 capital expenditures will be less than 2008 levels, excluding WiMAX. The company expects to continue to generate positive Free Cash Flow during the remainder of 2009. The company's shares have dropped 28.32% since it last reported earnings.The shares have fallen an additional 6% since it was announced by Amazon.com (AMZN) that Sprint is no longer the U.S. wireless provider for its newest Kindle digital readers.

Analyst Views

The company was also downgraded to Market Weight from Overweight at Thomas Weisel in mid-September. The firm downgraded Sprint Nextel as it sees a low probability of the company being acquired and believes its fundamentals continue to deteriorate. The firm also lowered its target on shares to $4.50 from $6.

Comments

[jwf:]

The call time and the First Call projections listed in this story are INACCURATE. Please check for correct information.

Oct 29 12:22 AM