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Sprint doubles loss in Q3, but subscriber growth steadies

Sprint says it added 892,000 net new customers in the period and lost a net 19,000 -- far fewer than the 336,000 customers lost in the previous quarter.
Written by Natalie Gagliordi, Contributor

Sprint Corp. posted its third quarter earnings and revenue Thursday morning. The results were a slight rebound from the dismal Q2 the company reported last November, as the telecommunications giant managed to add subscribers through aggressive promotions and price cuts.

The Overland Park, Kansas-based company reported a net loss of $2.38 billion, or 60 cents per share (statement), nearly double from the $1.04 billion, or 26 cents per share, it reported a year earlier.

The company, which is 80 percent owned by Tokyo-based SoftBank Corp, also saw net operating revenue fall to $8.97 billion from $9.14 billion.

But the quarter was marred a bit by a noncash impairment charge of $2.1 billion to write down the value of its brand name and wireline network assets. Without that, Sprint would have lost 24 cents a share.

Wall Street was expecting a loss of 24 cents per share on revenue of $8.68 billion. As a result, Sprint shares fell 1.3 percent to $4.52 in premarket trading.

Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure, who joined the company in August, acknowledged Sprint's performance struggles, but he pointed to the slight signs of growth as a silver lining:

We are pleased with the growth in sales in the quarter and the improving quality of our customer base as we begin our turnaround plan. However, we acknowledge there is a long way to go to reach our goals, including lowering our postpaid churn rates to competitive levels. Our network performance continues to improve, and we are now focused on a strategy that will unlock the true potential of our spectrum assets. I am confident that we have the right plan in place to be successful.

As for subscriber growth, Sprint says it added 892,000 net new customers in the period. On the flip side, Sprint lost a net 19,000 subscribers in the quarter, far fewer than the 336,000 customers lost in the previous quarter.

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Via Sprint Investor Relations
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