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Sprint ( S ) early Tuesday reported a higher-than-expected fiscal Q4 loss, but the wireless services provider also added postpaid phone subscribers for the third straight quarter. Sprint stock was up 2.5% in premarket trading Tuesday, following its earnings release. Sprint added 22,000 postpaid phone customers in the March quarter, while Verizon Communications ( VZ ) lost 8,000 and AT&T ( T ) lost 363,000. T-Mobile US ( TMUS ) was the biggest share gainer last quarter, adding 877,000 postpaid phone customers. “Postpaid” refers to customers who are billed monthly, a group that tends to spend more than prepaid customers who buy minutes as needed. In its fiscal year ended March 31, Sprint said it added 438,000 postpaid phone subscribers. Smaller Sprint and T-Mobile have been competing aggressively vs. wireless leaders Verizon and AT&T. “We generated positive postpaid phone net additions for the first time in three years, capped off by surpassing both Verizon and AT&T for the first time on record this quarter,” Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure said in the company’s earnings release. Sprint — majority owned by Japan’s Softbank ( SFTBY ) — said it lost 14 cents per share in fiscal Q4 vs. a 6-cent per-share loss in the year-earlier period. Revenue fell 2.5% to $8.07 billion. Analysts had modeled a 12 cent per-share loss on revenue of $8.02 billion. “Sprint reported solid fiscal Q4 results that were better than feared in a seasonally weak quarter,” said Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche in a research report. “The company added post-pay handsets in a quarter where AT&T and Verizon both reported net losses, and continues to make progress on its cost-reduction initiatives.” Scalper1 News
Scalper1 News