Sprint Nextel Corp (S)

bloated pig is losing customers, don't eat the swine till it's time!

The technical edge of 4G and Sprint's announcement of addressing their balance sheet is driving the share price. On its face however, the company has 2 strikes against it. In a recovering recession it appears their target customers are higher income service-oriented clients. Having a glance at their service plans not only does T match them, but has more value for the middle market. Secondly, competition is becoming more fierce and I see problems for all major carriers as they will be encroached by the minor carriers soon and stuck with possible massive debt.

IMO: Lack of incentives for sales people, poor working environment, lack of promoting based on merit and performance, allowing those who had experience and years of above average performance to depart via voluntary severance while keeping managers who continue to post sub-average performance, failure to position company versus competition, poor use of capital as evinced by historic low ROE's, poor capital structure, will lead to BK.

A lot of hope or hype concerning this company's come back.
For a well known company to have this high a percentage gain in one day suggests a lot of speculation. Once this most recent market rally fades, this stock will continue its downward course.

Downward Momentum

This company is messing up the wireless market for the other carriers. They over extended when they bought Nextel. They are going to get squeezed out.

CEO putting himself in his ads -- that's it for me, that's all it takes.

It has been in the red for the past 3 years. Additionally, its revenue is declining from one quarter to another. It also has a huge debt. It looks like it his headed in the direction of bankruptcy. It has negative Return on Assets/Equity.

This stock will hit >3

just to make a few buck out of it.

Better catch some share before it rallies.

21bil in debt, losses every year. why should i own this? they are in a mountain of debt, they lose money, and sooner or later it will reverse split and raise more cash to burn.

no thank.s

Losing subscribers to better networks, poor phone selection (pre is not as good as the current iphone or Blackberry 8900 or Curve). Investment in 4G is useless. 3G already causes battery life issues in most phones...batteries don't have enough juice to provide long operating time with 4G power demands. They are sinking slowly...

Sprint is just getting desperate now. They are going under against Verizon and Apple.

Sprint is unhealthy in the worst ways. They are operating two simultaneous infrastructures, thanks to the Nextel debacle. And the transition away from the Nextel network will either require a lot of time or a big one time spend. Not an accounting charge to realize losses like in Q4-CY07, but a real dollar spend, likely financed by debt as their cash position is weak. They have sagging revenue, largely pushed down by strong competition with better devices, more perceived strength in network coverage and speed (true or not doesn't matter), and extremely weak advertising and promotions that have seriously hurt the brand. They are living on borrowed time.

They have done a few things right: spin off Xohm, which is based on the flawed WiMax technology, into the new Clearwire merged company. Growth there will be slower than hype would have you believe--the value proposition is dubious (wireless is not a selling point for fixed home/biz networking, and real world speeds are dissatisfying). And the required build out of entirely new infrastructure will put them far behind LTE deployments from T and VZ in every market. Slow to market with no compelling competitive differentiator. But that business is no longer an S problem, and if I am wrong then S beenfits from the equity they hold in the venture.

And they have Boost mobile--a very successful prepaid label that doesn't suffer from a public association with the Sprint brand (sort of Sprint's Xbox, if you will). Revenues there are growing, given the economy. But, they are not growing enough to make up for losses in the core business.

When news of a 20MM cost cut drives your stock up 10% in a day, you are in deep S. ;)

Sprint has the worst customer service I have ever encountered in a long term service obligation. There are too many other options for them to act like they do.

Customer Service Script

Agent (Christine S): "Thank you, Clinton. I understand you wish to cancel services today as you have been very unhappy with the pricing of your device and services, is that correct?"
04/09/2009 06:38:18PM Landry: "That is correct."
04/09/2009 06:39:11PM Landry: "I would like to cancel services "the minute my contractual obligation to sprint expires""
04/09/2009 06:41:54PM Agent (Christine S): "I understand. I do see the incident you were referring to regarding your bill being offered lower, but the change not going into effect. This plan appears to have been ********** minutes for only $**********.********** a month. I am not sure why this change was not implemented"
, but I would be more than happy to correct that for you at this time. Would you like to do so today?
04/09/2009 06:43:10PM Landry: "If it is not a retroactive adjustment that is taken of my next bill do not bother. Either way I would like my service to end at the time when the plan ends."
04/09/2009 06:43:42PM Agent (Christine S): "I understand. Do you know anyone who may be interested in opening a new Sprint account, or who currently has a Sprint account, that could take over your current line of service? This would allow you to remove the line from your monthly financial obligatio"
ns while allowing a friend or family member to take advantage of your current contract end dates (including expired dates) and upgrade eligibility dates.
04/09/2009 06:45:04PM Landry: "I think I will bear this cross myself. I would also like to clarify that response as being a no to the billing adjustment?"
04/09/2009 06:45:47PM Agent (Christine S): "I apologize, however I would only be able to place this plan on your account provided the line were to agree to a new ********** year contract."
04/09/2009 06:46:44PM Agent (Christine S): "Due to Sprint's month in advance billing policy, your line will cancel at the end of the current billing cycle which ends on **********.**********.**********. As your contract expires **********.**********.**********, no termination penalties will occur. Your last bill will post as of **********.**********.********** and include o"
nly any overages or premium content purchased if any were to occur. Would you like to continue at this time?
04/09/2009 06:47:10PM Landry: "So you have documentation that an agreement between myself and Sprint was reached for a ********** minute plan at $********** but the agreement was never executed. Even with clear documentation you refuse to make the adjustment retroactive? Can you just set up the canc"
ellation please.

I had Nextel service last year. Switched as soon as my contract was over. I would receive text messages 30 min after someone would send it. On weekends and Friday nights it was even worse. Their 99 for everything plan is going to get blown away after Cricket releases their 49 for everything plan. BYE BYE.

They beat the analysts.... that means everything is fine

Verizon is focused on the game while sprint is faltering.