Which Top Telecom Stock Has the Strongest Earnings Trends After Metro PCS Earnings?

February 27, 2013

Page 1 of 5

Earnings trends are extremely important when evaluating stocks. At Wall St. Cheat Sheet, we view increasing earnings quarter-over-quarter as a simple way to gauge whether costs and the business model are stable. Then we like to analyze whether the company is outperforming peers in the sector. This is what we call the “E-Squared” investment analysis (‘E = Earnings Are Increasing Quarter-Over-Quarter’ + ‘E = Excellent Relative Performance Versus Peers and Sector’).

Stocks with improving earnings metrics are worthy of your extra attention. Click here to discover our CHEAT SHEET stock picks now!

Here’s your Cheat Sheet to how the top 5 telecom stocks rank via earnings trends

Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE:S): Current Price $5.78

Fiscal Year	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
Revenue ($) in millions	35,640	32,260	32,560	33,680	35,340
Diluted EPS ($)	-0.98	-0.84	-1.16	-0.96	-1.44

We find that sales are flat and there are no profits for the shareholders. Sprint has had negative EPS for the past five years.

These stocks are hitting our Profit Targets. Click here now to discover winning stocks!

Next, our CHEAT SHEET investing framework asks us to drill down to the recent quarterly data:

Quarter	Dec. 31, 2011	Mar. 31, 2012	Jun. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2012	Dec. 31, 2012
Revenue ($) in millions	8,722	8,734	8,843	8,763	9,005
Diluted EPS ($)	-0.43	-0.29	-0.46	-0.26	-0.44

Unfortunately, the quarterly numbers are also awash in red, and we can drop Sprint right away from the list.

Page 1 of 5

view all

To contact the reporter on this story: staff.writers@wallstcheatsheet.com To contact the editor responsible for this story: editors@wallstcheatsheet.com