|
Sprint wires strong 4Q
|
 |
February 1, 2000: 9:39 a.m. ET
Earns of 47 cents a share, well above forecasts, on strong wireless sales
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - No.3 telecommunications and long-distance company Sprint Corp. Tuesday unveiled fourth-quarter and full-year earnings that beat Wall Street forecasts, as strong sales of its wireless products and services offset losses at its high-speed voice and data network.
Net income rose 3 percent to $416 million, or 47 cents a diluted share, up from $404 million, or 40 cents, a year earlier. Analysts polled by First Call Corp. had expected Sprint (FON: Research, Estimates) to earn 38 cents a share. The year-earlier results included a 7-cent charge related to losses at the company's high-speed voice and data services unit, known as ION.
Profit from operations, which excludes various gains and charges that affect the company's bottom line, fell to $431 million, or 49 cents a share, from $454 million, or 45 cents, a year earlier.
For the year, Sprint earned $1.6 billion, or $1.78 a diluted share, up from pro forma profit of $1.54 billion, or $1.77, a year earlier.
Revenue rose 8 percent to $4.41 billion from $4.08 billion.
Kansas City-based Sprint reported pro forma results for the previous year to account for the spin-off of Sprint PCS (PCS: Research, Estimates), its mobile phone subsidiary, into a separate tracking stock.
Strong sales of its wireless products and services helped boost the bottom line in the latest quarter, even though Sprint's now public subsidiary, Sprint PCS, posted a loss. ION, also contributed to declines from a year ago.
Sprint PCS posted a net loss of $706 million, or 75 cents a share, compared to an operating loss of $616 million, or 72 cents, a year earlier. A charge of $31 million, or 4 cents a share, resulted in a net loss of $647 million, or 76 cents a share, in the prior-year quarter.
Sprint, which last fall agreed to be acquired by MCI WorldCom for $129 billion, rose 4-3/8 Monday to 64-5/8. Sprint PCS shares surged 9-1/16 Monday to 110-1/16. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sprint
|
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
External sites are not endorsed by CNNmoney
|
|
|
|
 |
|
