The telecom industry witnessed strong earnings performances by most of the key stocks last week. Altice USA Inc. ATUS, Telephone and Data Systems Inc. TDS, United States Cellular Corp. USM, Frontier Communications Corp. FTR and Windstream Holdings Inc. WIN delivered strong financial results in the fourth quarter of 2017, wherein both the top and bottom line outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate.
Total customer relationships of Altice USA in fourth-quarter 2017 were 4.9603 million, including 4.535 million connections for the Residential segment and 0.3713 million connections for the SMB segment. In the Residential segment, the subscriber count was 3.4055 million for Pay TV, 4.0462 million for Broadband and 2.5574 million for Telephony business. Average monthly revenue per user (ARPU) in the reported quarter was $140.2, up 1.5% year over year.
At the end of fourth-quarter 2017, Telephone & Data Systems had 567,700 residential wireline connections compared with 585,400 in the year-ago quarter. The company exited the reported quarter with 310,100 commercial wireline connections, down 5.9% year over year. Total cable connections were 315,100, up 7.8% year over year.
United States Cellular exited the fourth quarter of 2017 with a subscriber base of 5,096,000 compared with 5,031,000 at the end of 2016. Postpaid subscriber base totaled 4,518,000 compared with 4,482,000 at the end of 2016. Prepaid subscriber base totaled 519,000, compared with 484,000 at the end of 2016.
As of Dec 31, 2017, Frontier Communications had 3,938,000 high-speed broadband subscribers, down 7.8% and 961,000 video customers, down 16.1% year over year. The number of consumer segment customers decreased 10.1% year over year to 4,397,000. Commercial segment customers decreased 9.8% year over year to 453,000. Frontier Communications currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
As of Dec 31, 2017, Windstream had 1.2688 million household customers, down 6% year over year. High-speed internet customer base was 1.0066 million, down 4% while the digital TV customer base was 0.2779 million, down 13%. ILEC small business customers totaled 0.1281 million, down 8%. Enterprise customers were 0.1335 million, down 1% year over year. CLEC consumer customers were 0.6621 million compared with a mere 0.7 million in the year-ago quarter.
Meanwhile, American Tower Corp. AMT reported mixed results in the fourth quarter of 2017, wherein the top line outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate but the bottom line lagged the same. The company competes with some major wireless tower operators like Crown Castle International Corp. CCI and SBA Communications Corp. SBAC in the global wireless tower market.
Read the last Telecom Stock Roundup for Feb 22, 2018.
Recap of the Week’s Most Important Stories
1. On a GAAP basis, net income of Altice USA in the fourth quarter was $2,235.8 million or $3.06 per share against a net loss of $236.7 million or a loss of 36 cents per share in the prior-year quarter. However, it reported adjusted earnings per share of break-even, better than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of a penny per share.
Quarterly total revenues of $2,365.4 million increased 2.6% year over year and surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2,355.2 million. (Read more: Altice USA Earnings and Revenues Top Estimates in Q4)
2. GAAP net income of United States Cellular came in at $273 million or $3.18 per share against net loss of $6 million or a loss of 7 cents in the year-ago quarter. Moreover, the company reported adjusted earnings of 5 cents, which bettered the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 8 cents.
Quarterly total revenues of $1,029 million increased 3.8% year over year. Further, it surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1,000.8 million. (Read more: United States Cellular Tops on Q4 Earnings & Revenues)
3. GAAP net income of Telephone and Data Systems came in at $287 million or $2.54 per share against net loss of $5 million or a loss of 5 cents in the year-ago quarter. The company reported adjusted earnings of 5 cents against the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 2 cents.
Revenues increased 2.4% year over year to $1,308 million in the reported quarter, outperforming the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1,289 million. (Read more: Telephone & Data Systems Q4 Earnings and Revenues Beat)
4. Frontier Communications’ fourth-quarter 2017 net loss (on a GAAP basis) was $1,082 million or a loss of $13.91 per share wider than a net loss of $133 million or $1.73 in the prior-year quarter. However, quarterly adjusted (excluding special items) loss per share was 59 cents, narrower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of $1.12.
Total revenues deteriorated 8% year over year to $2,217 million, outpacing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2,211 million. (Read more: Frontier Communications Q4 Loss Narrower Than Expected)
5. On a GAAP basis, Windstream reported net loss of $1,835.7 million or a loss of $10.26 per share wider than a net loss of $86.9 million or a loss of 94 cent per share in the year-ago quarter. However, after adjusting impairment costs, the company generated earnings per share of 3 cents, in contrast with the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 39 cents per share.
Total revenues increased 14% year over year to $1,497.9 million in the reported quarter, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1,488.4 million. (Read More: Windstream Q4 Earnings and Revenues Top Estimates)
Price Performance
The following table shows the price movement of the major telecom stocks both in the last week and last six months.
| Company | Last Week | Last 6 Months |
| VZ | -4.45% | 0.08% |
| T | -3.10% | -3.95% |
| TMUS | 3.06% | -3.52% |
| S | -2.41% | -36.52% |
| TEF | 1.91% | -10.59% |
| AMX | -2.88% | 0.59% |
| CMCSA | -8.17% | -11.01% |
| CHTR | -7.18% | -13.52% |
| DISH | -10.88% | -30.36% |
In the last five trading sessions, share price movement of all major telecom stocks was negative. DISH Network, Comcast, Charter Communications, Verizon and AT&T lost significantly while T-Mobile US gained substantially. Likewise, price performances of most of the major telecom stocks were negative in the last six months. Sprint, DISH Network, Charter Communications, Comcast and Telefonica suffered major reverses in the stock price.
What’s Next in the Telecom Space?
We do not foresee any significant changes in the telecom industry or overall global economic factors that can affect the industry in the coming week. Consequently, we expect stocks to trade in line with the broader market.
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