Sprint 3rd Quarter 2014 Earnings

[lennyj17]

Sprint needs MARKETING, BRANDING, a THEME....To define them, right now what defines Sprint is all the Techblogs, Sprint Haters, and Media perception of Sprint.... Theres nothing out there countering that.

 

I hope, pray, and beg Marcelo next big "Go Hard Focus" is around Marketing, Branding and Image.... Only thing in Sprint marketing that still works is the colors "Yellow", you see yellow in context of wireless you think Sprint, like TMO is Pink, VZ is Red and ATT is Blue.....Everything else about Sprint marketing needs scrapped and overhauled, and a laser focus campaign around new branding needs to have a "NV" like strategy.

 

EDIT: Say what you will about Legere management styles, dude has mastered an effective marketing campaign. Part of which brought TMO back to life.

[avb]

We've already told you all the nine priority cities that Samsung itself is doing weeks ago: Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Detroit, Chicago, Denver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and Cleveland.

 

Under promise, over deliver. 

 

I've seen that list, but I'm hoping Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent will also have a few priority cities as well.

[centermedic]

Still Post-Paid Losses and Churn is higher than it was in the previous quarter.... It was Wholesale that gave them a gain.... Doesn't speak well of Sprint branding right now....

 

Sprint needs some serious Marketing like yesterday, some serious branding.  

Eh. Remember that this quarter covered July- september so it only captures a small portion of Marcelos strategy. The fourth quarter should be more representative of where Sprint stands. I am also encouraged by the wholesale adds. It means that either MVNO's are coming to Sprint because the network has gotten better or existing MVNO's are able to expand their user base for the same reason.

[S4GRU]

We were being too optimistic in Marcelo's turnaround in being less than 1/3 of the quarter. Though all the momentum and good news was in that portion of the quarter, it was not enough to overtake the first two bad months. Can you imagine how bad the numbers would be without the change? Scary to consider.

 

A turnaround is occurring now. Based on moves from competitors and their public comments, like Legere's recent reducing the number of Sprint portins drastically, indicate a turn around is occurring now. But the extent of what is occurring now won't be known until early February.

 

We just know definitively it did not happen last quarter. But it appears it started. It would be nice if we could have seen a break out of September. And better yet, just the second half. And compare the second half of September from the first half of July.

[WiWavelength]

So my band 41 phone will work in a region that has only band 38.

 

No, probably not.

 

AJ

[Cubbiefan82]

And of course the stock is getting hit hard today was under 5 dollars at one point.

[Rawvega]

May make for a nice entry or re-entry point.

 

Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

[ericdabbs]

Man I was expecting a better quarter by Sprint but then again for Claure to unravel all the holes that Hesse dug was tough.  Typically 4th quarter should be good for all carriers because during Christmas consumers tend to splurge on gadgets and I am hoping Sprint puts out some nice Black Friday deals this year.

[jamesinclair]

And of course the stock is getting hit hard today was under 5 dollars at one point.

 

Damn, I thought I bought at the bottom a couple of months ago.

 

Edit: Just bought some more.

[EvanA]

Sprint needs MARKETING, BRANDING, a THEME....To define them, right now what defines Sprint is all the Techblogs, Sprint Haters, and Media perception of Sprint.... Theres nothing out there countering that.

 

I hope, pray, and beg Marcelo next big "Go Hard Focus" is around Marketing, Branding and Image.... Only thing in Sprint marketing that still works is the colors "Yellow", you see yellow in context of wireless you think Sprint, like TMO is Pink, VZ is Red and ATT is Blue.....Everything else about Sprint marketing needs scrapped and overhauled, and a laser focus campaign around new branding needs to have a "NV" like strategy.

 

EDIT: Say what you will about Legere management styles, dude has mastered an effective marketing campaign. Part of which brought TMO back to life.

 

Marcello said in the earnings call that building the Sprint brand and getting back to net adds is the top priority right now.

 

Also here is the call transcript: http://seekingalpha.com/article/2633555-sprints-s-ceo-marcelo-claure-on-q2-2014-results-earnings-call-transcript

[greencat]

Investors sure don't like this. S is down 6.77% after-hours.

 

It is definitely not a good quarter. 272,000 post paid losses is bad. I don't think people really care about the current price plans. They need to get as much LTE service turned on as fast as they can.

[S4GRU]

It is definitely not a good quarter. 272,000 post paid losses is bad. I don't think people really care about the current price plans. They need to get as much LTE service turned on as fast as they can.

That's not what S4GRU members who are store employees are saying. They say in the past two weeks of September to present, there has been a huge drive of people into Sprint stores because of their new price plans. Roughly 3x increase in new customers.

 

You are letting your own personal opinion of Sprint cloud your judgment on the issue. Heck, it was enough to get me to drop my Ting plan and jump back to Sprint.

 

Using Nexus 5 on Tapatalk

[travismheim]

It is definitely not a good quarter. 272,000 post paid losses is bad. I don't think people really care about the current price plans. They need to get as much LTE service turned on as fast as they can.

I had to go into a Sprint store a couple times the last month to deal with a defective device. Both times the store was packed and I ended up waiting almost an hour just to see some one because I didn't make an appointment. Everything I overheard contradicts your statement about the plans, almost everyone was switching over from another carrier (mostly Verizon it seemed) because of how much money they would be saving.

[Jones]

Subscriber losses, as we know by being members of this site, was largely to be expected as the new plans came out in the middle of this past quarter. Turnarounds take time (just like T-Mobile's) and the new plans make sense from a marketing perspective and actually are cheaper - even Engadget, Ars Technica, The Verge all agree - even though they like to write articles about how crappy Sprint is. Most likely because its click bait...

[JeffDTD]

Exactly, and when sprint has net adds and makes money, these same tech opinionists have a hard time reporting it.

 

And im sure Roger Cheng sprayed the biggest after 5pm load all over himself yesterday. Sprint bait really gets him going

[greencat]

I'm saying because of the high churn and continued losses of post paid subscribers it doesn't seem like people care about the current rate plans.

 

I personally don't think they are plans that will keep people especially after their bill increases... But people may stay if the service gets better, obviously we all know if their service stinks they might turn right around and leave - this might be happening as indicated by the high churn rate.

 

Use all the anecdotal evidence you want reported from a few people at some stores. The numbers are there for everyone to see. For all the packed stores 1000s of people were in the stores of other carriers starting service and porting out of Sprint. I thought the Framily plan brought in more people and was more appealing than the current family plans.

 

When they have a good quarter I will give them credit. This was not it. The other three carriers all added 100,000s of post paid subscribers, but Sprint lost over 270,000.

[JustinRP37]

I know the majority of us love Sprint on here. But even so, things are rough right now.  If the numbers during the last two weeks of September were excellent, then why wouldn't they have mentioned that in the call?  They would have said we started seeing progress towards the end of the quarter as the new plans took hold.  Sprint cut its 2014 earnings forecast by a billion dollars.  The results even triggered a profit warning at SoftBank in Japan.  I just would like to know how things got this bad for this long.  It is starting to look like Hesse really did not do anything to help this company in the long run, but then again without him, there would be no Sprint.  I really hate how the business media is spinning the rollout of Spark, as only going to a handful of cities now.  They should be reported that the rollout will be targeted to the cities that really need it first, before going nationwide.  I really want to see Marcelo figure this giant puzzle out.  If he does, then he will have truly earned his millions.

[IamMrFamous07]

I know the majority of us love Sprint on here. But even so, things are rough right now. If the numbers during the last two weeks of September were excellent, then why wouldn't they have mentioned that in the call? They would have said we started seeing progress towards the end of the quarter as the new plans took hold. Sprint cut its 2014 earnings forecast by a billion dollars. The results even triggered a profit warning at SoftBank in Japan. I just would like to know how things got this bad for this long. It is starting to look like Hesse really did not do anything to help this company in the long run, but then again without him, there would be no Sprint. I really hate how the business media is spinning the rollout of Spark, as only going to a handful of cities now. They should be reported that the rollout will be targeted to the cities that really need it first, before going nationwide. I really want to see Marcelo figure this giant puzzle out. If he does, then he will have truly earned his millions.

 

1. Marcelo stated early Septemeber the company started to see progressvwhen he noticed more people were porting in than out.

 

2. Hesse did everything he could to help sprint in the long run. Without Hesse we wouldn't have Marcelo, SoftBank, Clearwire spectrum, etc. those are things Hesse secured for Sprints long term

 

3. Who cares about "business media" we can't control what they write but we can control what's actually factual and what's not

[jbom]

Good summary from @WaltBTIG

 

Q3 Wireless Service Rev growth

$TMUS +10.9%

$VZ +4.8%

$T -4.2%

$S -5.7%

 

Q3 Post paid phone net adds

$TMUS +1.2 mil

$VZ +457k

$T +364k

$S -615k

Top 4 +1.4 mil

Top 4 in Q3 2013 +540k

 

Q3 Post paid net adds

$TMUS +1.6 mil

$VZ +1.5 mil

$T +785k

$S -336k

Top 4 +3.5 mil

Top 4 in Q3 2013 +1.4 mil

 

Postpaid smartphones sold in Q3:

$VZ 8.6m (+17%)

$T 6.8m (+2%)

$TMUS ~4.6m (+38%)

$S 3.5m (+11%)

Top 4 USA 23.5m (+14%)

 

Q3 will show definitively what customers think of the new Sprint plans, right now it doesn't look good

Edited November 5, 2014 by jbom

[Paynefanbro]

Q3 will show definitively what customers think of the new Sprint plans, right now it doesn't look good

 

 

I think that you mean Q4.

[Rawvega]

I think that you mean Q4.

 

Calendar Q4, but fiscal Q3

[jamesinclair]

 

Good summary from @WaltBTIG

 

 

 

Say what you want about Tmobile, they know how to run a good ad campaign. I wonder who they're using for that. No reason Sprint shouldnt be able to hire the same ad firm, and never talk to the Hamster people again.

 

The AT&T ads annoy me too, the one with the two awkward tech guys.

[jamisonshaw125]

Say what you want about Tmobile, they know how to run a good ad campaign. I wonder who they're using for that. No reason Sprint shouldnt be able to hire the same ad firm, and never talk to the Hamster people again.

 

The AT&T ads annoy me too, the one with the two awkward tech guys.

I actually love the ATT adds. I think they're catch and kinda funny.

[twospirits]

I like the one with the female rep Lily telepathically knowing what the guy is thinking (Mind Reader) is my favorite. 

 

TS

[NYC126]

I will give them the benefit of doubt, but if the they don't add Postpaid customers in quarter 4th then it will show people don't care about their cheap plans, but network. A wireless firm brand is defined by its network.

 

Also Marcelo is giving Wall Street a negative vibe by cutting 1 billion from capex. Everyone knows sprint is in this hole because of their network.