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T-Mobile US ( TMUS ) early Wednesday reported Q4 earnings above expectations and forecast 2.9 million postpaid phone subscriber additions in 2016 at the midpoint of its guidance range, down from 4.5 million adds last year, amid intensified competition in wireless services. T-Mobile stock was up 3% in early trading after the company posted its latest results. The wireless firms’ subscriber guidance is “likely conservative,” Jefferies analyst Mike McCormack said in a research report. “The company raised net add expectations throughout 2015 and is likely taking a conservative approach (for 2016), particularly given aggressive promotions from Sprint.” T-Mobile has gained market share vs. AT&T ( T ), Verizon Communications ( VZ ) and Sprint ( S ) with its aggressive, Uncarrier-branded promotions. T-Mobile, controlled by Germany-based Deutsche Telekom ( DTEGY ), said December-quarter EPS minus items nearly tripled to 34 cents from 12 cents in the year-earlier quarter vs. analysts estimates of 15-cent profit. Revenue rose 1.2% to $8.25 billion, edging the consensus estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. For 2016, T-Mobile forecast adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of $9.4 billion at the midpoint of its guidance, below analyst expectations. T-Mobile had adjusted EBITDA of $7.4 billion in 2015. It did not provide 2016 revenue guidance in its earnings release. Phone leasing plans that have become standard for wireless service providers have lowered equipment revenue but boosted EBITDA. T-Mobile said it added 2.06 million subscribers overall in Q4, including postpaid, prepaid and wholesale customers — about the same as Q4 2014. T-Mobile reported “bad debt expense” of $228 million in the quarter, up 52% from the year-earlier quarter. T-Mobile preannounced at a Jan. 6 conference that it added 917,000 postpaid phone subscribers in Q4. Verizon said it added 449,000 postpaid phone customers in Q4 — those billed monthly and more lucrative than prepaid users — while Sprint added 366,000. AT&T in Q4 lost postpaid subscribers for the fifth quarter in a row, shedding 342,000. Scalper1 News
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