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Strong 4Q for Baby Bells
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January 24, 2000: 12:18 p.m. ET
Wireless, Internet help BellSouth beat Street, Bell Atlantic meet strong forecast
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Two leading Baby Bells reported strong improvements in fourth-quarter results Monday, with BellSouth Corp. beating forecasts for the period.
BellSouth and Bell Atlantic Corp. both said they had better percentage gains in services such as wireless communications, Internet products and international offerings than they did in their core local phone service.
Bell Atlantic, which earlier this month became the first regional phone company to get permission to offer long-distance service to its local customers, said that New York offering is gaining greater acceptance than anticipated, although it did not give details.
BellSouth (BLS) had fourth-quarter earnings of $1.1 billion, or 53 cents a diluted share, before one-time gains. Analysts polled by First Call expected earnings of 52 cents a share. The latest result was a gain of 26 percent from $831 million, or 42 cents a share, a year ago.
Including special charges, fourth-quarter net income came to $1.1 billion, or 55 cents a diluted share, up from $1.0 billion, or 51 cents a share, a year ago.
Revenue at the Atlanta-based company rose 8.3 percent to $6.7 billion. Revenue from local service rose 7.7 percent to $2.8 billion, but that trailed the growth rate in some other products.
Domestic wireless revenue rose 18.6 percent to $836 million, international revenue was up 7.9 percent to $588 million, and Internet and e-commerce products posted revenue of $760 million, a 30.1 percent increase from a year ago.
For the year, earnings excluding charges came to $3.8 billion, or $2.00 a diluted share, compared with $3.3 billion, or $1.64 a share, in 1998. Revenue rose 9 percent to $25.2 billion, with wireless, international and e-commerce revenue showing a greater growth rate.
Including charges and items, net income was $3.4 billion, or $1.80 a share, compared with $3.5 billion, or $1.78 a share, in 1998, when there were almost 4 percent more shares outstanding.
Bell Atlantic meets estimates
Bell Atlantic Corp. (BEL) also said it saw growth in both its local and wireless service.
The New York company reported net income of $1.2 billion, or 77 cents a diluted share, adjusted for recent acquisitions, matching the estimate of analysts surveyed by First Call. A year earlier, Bell Atlantic reported adjusted net income of $1.1 billion, or 69 cents a diluted share.
Net income including all charges and adjustments for merger activity came to $719 million, or 45 cents a diluted share, down from $1.0 billion, or 65 cents, a year earlier.
Revenue in the quarter rose 6.6 percent to $8.6 billion. Local phone revenue rose only 1.6 percent to $3.6 billion while wireless revenue was up 25 percent to $1.3 billion.
For the year, adjusted net income was $4.8 billion, or $3.01 a diluted share, up from $4.3 billion, or $2.72 a diluted share, in 1998. Including all adjustments and charges, 1999 net income came to $4.2 billion, or $2.65 a diluted share, compared with $2.9 billion, or $1.86 a share, in 1998.
Revenue rose 5.1 percent to $33.2 billion from $31.6 billion in 1998.
Shares of Bell Atlantic were unchanged at 60 in trading Monday morning, while BellSouth shares were down 1-3/16 at 45-7/2. 
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