Tag Archives: technology

Sprint Added Phone Customers Last Quarter, Topping AT&T, Verizon

Sprint ( S ) early Tuesday reported a higher-than-expected fiscal Q4 loss, but the wireless services provider also added postpaid phone subscribers for the third straight quarter. Sprint stock was up 2.5% in premarket trading Tuesday, following its earnings release. Sprint added 22,000 postpaid phone customers in the March quarter, while Verizon Communications ( VZ ) lost 8,000 and AT&T ( T ) lost 363,000. T-Mobile US ( TMUS ) was the biggest share gainer last quarter, adding 877,000 postpaid phone customers. “Postpaid” refers to customers who are billed monthly, a group that tends to spend more than prepaid customers who buy minutes as needed. In its fiscal year ended March 31, Sprint said it added 438,000 postpaid phone subscribers. Smaller Sprint and T-Mobile have been competing aggressively vs. wireless leaders Verizon and AT&T. “We generated positive postpaid phone net additions for the first time in three years, capped off by surpassing both Verizon and AT&T for the first time on record this quarter,” Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure said in the company’s earnings release. Sprint — majority owned by Japan’s Softbank ( SFTBY ) — said it lost 14 cents per share in fiscal Q4 vs. a 6-cent per-share loss in the year-earlier period. Revenue fell 2.5% to $8.07 billion. Analysts had modeled a 12 cent per-share loss on revenue of $8.02 billion. “Sprint reported solid fiscal Q4 results that were better than feared in a seasonally weak quarter,” said Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche in a research report. “The company added post-pay handsets in a quarter where AT&T and Verizon both reported net losses, and continues to make progress on its cost-reduction initiatives.”

Google, Facebook ‘Digital Duopoly’ Seen With 67% Of Mobile Ad Market

Alphabet ( GOOGL ) unit Google and Facebook ( FB ) hold a firm grip on the digital advertising market, especially mobile advertising, says a MoffettNathanson report. Google and Facebook drove over two-thirds of the industry’s growth in 2015, says the MoffettNathanson report.  Alphabet-controlled Google and Facebook now hold 54% of the U.S. digital ad market, up from 43% in 2010, said Michael Nathanson, an analyst at MoffettNathanson, in the report. “We can’t think of any other media market place with this level of dominance,” he added. Facebook and Google have 67% of the mobile advertising market, says Nathanson. The analyst has buy ratings on Alphabet and Facebook and a neutral rating on Twitter ( TWTR ). Twitter has gained little ground in social media advertising, said Nathanson. Privately held Snapchat and Pinterest have emerged as competitors to Facebook, he says. Nathanson’s conclusions are based on the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s 2015 Internet advertising revenue report. “Given Facebook’s and Google’s domination in key digital verticals like mobile, social, and search, it’s hard to imagine the digital ad engine meaningfully slowing anytime soon,” said Nathanson. “Social advertising comprises over 70% of all of display’s growth… and Facebook has 65% share of social,” he added. Alphabet, Facebook and Twitter were all down modestly in pre-market trading in the stock market today , reflecting weaker stock futures.