Sprint's 4th Quarter and Full Year 2012 Earnings Released

[S4GRU]

I have to go back and listen later once the audio archive is up, but I think Hesse said Sprint was the number 1 seller of the Galaxy SIII. I find that very surprising if true.

 

When you consider the EVO issues, the lack of a lot of flagship devices for the first few months the GS-3 came out, and all of the promotions Sprint has had with get one free and the like, I wouldn't be too surprised if Sprint was the number 1 GS-3 seller in the U.S.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 with Tapatalk HD

[JeffDTD]

I have to go back and listen later once the audio archive is up' date=' but I think Hesse said Sprint was the number 1 seller of the Galaxy SIII. I find that very surprising if true.[/quote']

 

Sprint had run some if the best deals on the GS3 of any carrier. The bogo promo on black friday, amazon's penny sale, 49 cents at sams, $49 all over back before+around around christmas, constant $99 or less pushes at best buy. I helped my uncles fam upgrade to gs3's on verizon back around christmas and nowhere could I find verizon gs3's priced as aggressively on average as sprint. Sprint embraced it as a flagship while verizon and att chose to just add it to the stable.

[Rawvega]

Was there anything mentioned or any questions asked about the Clearwire acquisition and/or 2.5GHz TD-LTE?

[marioc21]

Was there anything mentioned or any questions asked about the Clearwire acquisition and/or 2.5GHz TD-LTE?

 

No, basically it was all "no comment until the acquisition is completed".

[marioc21]

When you consider the EVO issues, the lack of a lot of flagship devices for the first few months the GS-3 came out, and all of the promotions Sprint has had with get one free and the like, I wouldn't be too surprised if Sprint was the number 1 GS-3 seller in the U.S.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 with Tapatalk HD

 

 

Sprint had run some if the best deals on the GS3 of any carrier. The bogo promo on black friday, amazon's penny sale, 49 cents at sams, $49 all over back before+around around christmas, constant $99 or less pushes at best buy. I helped my uncles fam upgrade to gs3's on verizon back around christmas and nowhere could I find verizon gs3's priced as aggressively on average as sprint. Sprint embraced it as a flagship while verizon and att chose to just add it to the stable.

 

Makes sense. I guess I'm just used to thinking that Verizon and ATT would always be able to outsell sprint on a given phone model since they're twice the size. I wonder if this gives Sprint more sway with Samsung when discussing gsIV, V, etc.

[S4GRU]

 

 

 

 

Makes sense. I guess I'm just used to thinking that Verizon and ATT would always be able to outsell sprint on a given phone model since they're twice the size. I wonder if this gives Sprint more sway with Samsung when discussing gsIV, V, etc.

 

It probably helps.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 with Tapatalk HD

[sbolen]

Honest question -- does anyone here own Sprint stock?

 

I'm considering a buy - and have been for a while - and earnings calls like this with the robust Q&A at the end really have me thinking that in 12-18 months, this is going to be a great stock to own. Buy low, hold, etc.

[marioc21]

If anyone is interested here is the transcript of the earnings call.

 

http://seekingalpha.com/article/1163801-sprint-nextel-s-ceo-discusses-q4-2012-results-earnings-call-transcript?part=single

[TheForce627]

Honest question -- does anyone here own Sprint stock?

 

I'm considering a buy - and have been for a while - and earnings calls like this with the robust Q&A at the end really have me thinking that in 12-18 months, this is going to be a great stock to own. Buy low, hold, etc.

I do. if u can I say buy. just because it's guaranteed to be at $7.30 when Softbank buys its stake from some shareholders if you choose to sell at that time

[marioc21]

Honest question -- does anyone here own Sprint stock?

 

I'm considering a buy - and have been for a while - and earnings calls like this with the robust Q&A at the end really have me thinking that in 12-18 months, this is going to be a great stock to own. Buy low, hold, etc.

 

I do. I bought in back in September when the stock was bottoming out at about 2 bucks a share. Timed it well, since the stock nearly tripled and then the softbank news came out. The stock price has pretty much plateaued since then. But, I'm a buy and hold kind of guy anyway.

 

We're not talking a huge stake either. I had a couple hundred bucks in a roth ira that were doing nothing so I bought like 60 shares at the time.

[sbolen]

I do. I bought in back in September when the stock was bottoming out at about 2 bucks a share. Timed it well, since the stock nearly tripled and then the softbank news came out. The stock price has pretty much plateaued since then. But, I'm a buy and hold kind of guy anyway.

 

We're not talking a huge stake either. I had a couple hundred bucks in a roth ira that were doing nothing so I bought like 60 shares at the time.

I'm kicking myself for not getting in when it was in the low $2's.

 

I've got a few hundred laying around in my USAA account, so now would seem like a good time to hop on board the Yellow Train to Greenbackville!

[marioc21]

 

243k+- "wholesale and affiliate" customers" were lost in 4th quarter 2012. Anybody know what affiliate or wholesale agreement held that many customers?

 

 

Went back and read the earnings call transcript. The wholesale loss was also related to the FCC's lifeline program. Looks like some of their wholesale customers also provide lifeline service and had to go back and eliminate inactive accounts.

[JeffDTD]

I would like to see how Hesse would interpret handset financing.

[shockerengr]

I do. if u can I say buy. just because it's guaranteed to be at $7.30 when Softbank buys its stake from some shareholders if you choose to sell at that time

 

It's more complicated than that....not all the shares will be purchased at $7.30.....some of them will be converted to shares in the new sprint at I believe $5.25 - those shares will also be more dilute than the current one. The effective price works out to around 5.70 (I believe) which is why the stock price has largely plateaued.

 

I'm not an investment guy (an engineer, though I do own sprint stock) but I wouldn't expect to see significant movement in the stock until after the sale completes. That said, if it dips down to 5.40-5.50 range I will probably buy more stock, otherwise I intend to wait until closer to the softbank deal completing.

[Boosted20V]

It's more complicated than that....not all the shares will be purchased at $7.30.....some of them will be converted to shares in the new sprint at I believe $5.25 - those shares will also be more dilute than the current one. The effective price works out to around 5.70 (I believe) which is why the stock price has largely plateaued.

 

I'm not an investment guy (an engineer, though I do own sprint stock) but I wouldn't expect to see significant movement in the stock until after the sale completes. That said, if it dips down to 5.40-5.50 range I will probably buy more stock, otherwise I intend to wait until closer to the softbank deal completing.

 

You bring up valid points but also there is no guarantee that the Softbank deal will close. I think it's very unlikely that it wouldn't but the possibility still exists. IF that were to fall through, I think the stock price would tank.

[ericdabbs]

I wonder if this means that Sprint will still try to push for tri band LTE phones for its flagship phones this year. I really hope so. I think it would be a dumb move if Sprint didn't do that. Offering only 1900 MHz LTE phones in 2013 would be a disaster since the Wimax customers like myself from 2011 renew our contracts. that puts more stress for the next 2 years on only the 1900 MHz band since customers typically renew their phones every 2 years. All the 2012 LTE customers only have 1900 MHz LTE support.

 

I am glad to hear that 800 MHz LTE deployment will begin in Q4 2013.

[bongohawk]

I agree about Sprint needing to have Tri band LTE phones this year. My upgrade eligibility is in June and if they don't have a tri bank LTE phone by then, I will just wait. It will be tough to wait, but I would rather wait a month or two if that means I will have tri band.

[SGT516]

Went back and read the earnings call transcript. The wholesale loss was also related to the FCC's lifeline program. Looks like some of their wholesale customers also provide lifeline service and had to go back and eliminate inactive accounts.

 

That's a program I'd like to see end. It's riddled with fraud and abuse.

[MacinJosh]

If Sprint isn't starting NV2.0 until 4Q, then I would assume the next iPhone this year and most of the Spring phone releases won't have LTE800 support. Oh well, just longer waiting time.

[supert0nes]

Well LTE-800 should go quick as hell as it's plug in a card, turn it on, and go test. Quite a bit different than the huge checklist they have to fulfill today.

[S4GRU]

Well LTE-800 should go quick as hell as it's plug in a card, turn it on, and go test. Quite a bit different than the huge checklist they have to fulfill today.

 

In Ericsson markets it will require an RRU install too.

 

Robert via Samsung Note II via Tapatalk

 

 

[Boosted20V]

In Ericsson markets it will require an RRU install too.

 

Robert via Samsung Note II via Tapatalk

 

Ericsson markets can't catch a break! I kid, I kid.

[ericdabbs]

In Ericsson markets it will require an RRU install too.

 

Robert via Samsung Note II via Tapatalk

 

What about Alcatel Lucent and Samsung markets?

[lilotimz]

iirc, Robert mentioned that samsung rrus can do both smr and pcs so they only need two rrus at the bare minimum.

[S4GRU]

 

What about Alcatel Lucent and Samsung markets?

 

I'm not certain about AlcaLu, but I believe their RRU's can do LTE and CDMA on the same unit. I know Samsung can. And currently Ericsson cannot. However, I hear that Ericsson is working on a new RRU for deployment than can do both LTE and CDMA from the same RRU.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 with Tapatalk HD