Telecom & Wireless

Can Investors Make Up Their Minds on T-Mobile Earnings?

Chris Lange

Published: February 14, 2017 9:10 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 2:51 pm

T-Mobile US Inc. (NASDAQ: TMUS) reported its fourth-quarter financial results before the markets opened on Tuesday. The company said that it had $0.45 in earnings per share (EPS) on $10.18 billion in revenue. Thomson Reuters consensus estimates had called for $0.29 in EPS and revenue of $9.84 billion. The same period of last year reportedly had EPS of $0.34 and $8.25 billion in revenue.

During the quarter, there were 2.1 million total net customer additions, bringing the total customer count to 71.5 million. For the 2016 full year, total net additions were 8.2 million, making this the third year in a row above 8 million.

Branded postpaid net additions were 1.2 million in the fourth quarter and 4.1 million in the full year, well above the full-year revised guidance calling for 3.7 million to 3.9 million postpaid net additions.

In terms of guidance for the 2017 full year, the company expects to see postpaid net additions in the range of 2.4 million to 3.4 million, with adjusted EBITDA between $10.4 billion and $10.8 billion. The consensus estimates are $1.83 in EPS and $40.37 billion in revenue for this year.

T-Mobile currently provides 4G LTE coverage to 314 million people, and it aims to provide 320 million people with 4G LTE coverage by year-end 2017.

Net cash provided by operating activities was $1.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2016, a decrease of $631 million year over year. At the same time, free cash flow decreased $59 million to $743 million.

John Legere, president and CEO of T-Mobile, commented:

These results are proof that doing right by customers is also good for shareholders. Not only are customers flocking to T-Mobile, but we’re also producing rock-solid financial results including 11% growth in service revenues, 23% in total revenues, 31% in net income and 12% in Adjusted EBITDA year-over-year in Q4. The competition just doesn’t get that customers want to come first! That’s three years in a row that we’ve added more than 8 million customers and taken all of the postpaid phone growth in the industry. The Un-carrier revolution continues in 2017!

Shares of T-Mobile closed Monday at $60.90, with a consensus analyst price target of $62.25 and a 52-week trading range of $34.87 to $63.68. Following the release of the earnings report, the stock was down 0.4% at $60.65 in early trading indications Tuesday.