Record T-Mobile Subscriber Growth Offsets Earnings Miss

Photo of Chris Lange
By Chris Lange Published
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

T-Mobile US Inc. (NYSE: TMUS) reported its third-quarter results after the market close on Monday as -$0.12 in earnings per share and $7.35 billion in revenue. That was against consensus estimates of $0.02 in earnings per share and $7.42 billion in revenue. Thomson Reuters reported the previous year’s third-quarter earnings as -$0.03 per share on $6.69 billion in revenue.

The company’s guidance for the full year sees 4.3 million to 4.7 million post-paid net additions, which is up from the previous guidance of 3.0 million to 3.5 million. The previous guidance for EBITDA and capital expenditures remained unchanged.

T-Mobile reported a net loss of $94 million for the third quarter, compared to the net loss of $36 million in same period of the previous year.

Service revenues for the third quarter were $5.684 billion, up 10.6% from the previous year. Equipment sales were recorded at $1.561 billion, up 6.4% from the third quarter in 2013. However, cost of services was $1.488 billion and cost of equipment sales was $2.308 billion. Other SG&A expenses totaled $2.283 billion for the quarter.

This was the best quarter for T-Mobile in branded postpaid net additions, coming in at 1.4 million. The branded postpaid phone net additions more than doubled quarter-over-quarter to 1.2 million. Branded prepaid net additions were up more than four times quarter-over-quarter to 411,000.

ALSO READ: The 20 Most Profitable Companies in the World

In September, T-Mobile issued $3.0 billion aggregate principal amount of notes in a registered public offering, consisting of $1.3 billion aggregate principal amount of 6% senior notes due 2023 and $1.7 billion aggregate principal amount of 6.375% senior notes due 2025. In early October, T-Mobile used approximately $1.0 billion of the proceeds from the debt issuance to redeem its outstanding 7.875% senior notes due 2018.

On October 20, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on T-Mobile with an Overweight rating and a $31 price target.

Shares of T-Mobile closed Monday down almost 0.5% at $27.99 and were up almost 2.5% to $28.68 in Tuesday morning trading.

The shares have a consensus analyst price target of $35.58 and a 52-week trading range of $24.50 to $35.50. T-Mobile has a market cap of about $22 billion.

Photo of Chris Lange
About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.

Featured Reads

Our top personal finance-related articles today. Your wallet will thank you later.

Continue Reading

Top Gaining Stocks

CBOE Vol: 1,568,143
PSKY Vol: 12,285,993
STX Vol: 7,378,346
ORCL Vol: 26,317,675
DDOG Vol: 6,247,779

Top Losing Stocks

LKQ
LKQ Vol: 4,367,433
CLX Vol: 13,260,523
SYK Vol: 4,519,455
MHK Vol: 1,859,865
AMGN Vol: 3,818,618