PCS Second Quarter Earnings Sneak Peek

S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component MetroPCS Communications Inc (NYSE:PCS) will unveil its latest earnings tomorrow, Thursday, July 26, 2012. MetroPCS Communications is a wireless communications carrier that offers broadband mobile services in the United States.

MetroPCS Communications Inc Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet

Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is for profit of 21 cents per share, a decline of 12.5% from the company’s actual earnings for the year-ago quarter. During the past three months, the average estimate has moved down from 25 cents. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate moved down. It has been unchanged at 21 cents during the last month. Analysts are projecting profit to rise by 29.8% versus last year to 59 cents.

Past Earnings Performance: Last quarter, the company fell short of estimates by 9 cents, coming in at net income of 6 cents per share against a mean estimate of profit of 17 cents. The company topped expectations in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year.

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A Look Back: In the first quarter, profit fell 62.7% to $21 million (6 cents a share) from $56.4 million (15 cents a share) the year earlier, missing analyst expectations. Revenue rose 6.9% to $1.28 billion from $1.19 billion.

Stock Price Performance: Between April 25, 2012 and July 24, 2012, the stock price fell $1.37 (-17.21%), from $7.96 to $6.59. The stock price saw one of its best stretches over the last year between May 17, 2012 and May 29, 2012, when shares rose for eight straight days, increasing 3% (+19 cents) over that span. It saw one of its worst periods between November 15, 2011 and November 25, 2011 when shares fell for eight straight days, dropping 14.6% (-$1.28) over that span.

Wall St. Revenue Expectations: Analysts are projecting a rise of 4.1% in revenue from the year-earlier quarter to $1.26 billion.

Key Stats:

On the top line, the company is looking to build on four-straight revenue increases heading into this earnings announcement. Revenue rose 19.4% in the second quarter of the last fiscal year, 18.1% in the third quarter of the last fiscal year and 16.2% in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year before increasing again in the first quarter.

There has enjoyed solid performance recently heading into this earnings announcement with profit rising by a year-over-year average of more than twofold for the last four quarters.

Analyst Ratings: There are mostly holds on the stock with 18 of 22 analysts surveyed giving that rating.

Balance Sheet Analysis: The company’s current ratio of assets to liabilities came in at 3.56 last quarter. Having a ratio above 2:1 is usually considered a good indicator of a company’s liquidity and ability to meet creditor demands.

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(Company fundamentals by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)

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