Stocks To Watch: Virgin Media, Level 3 Communications, CenterPoint Energy, Sprint Nextel and Aetna
Virgin
Media Inc. (NASDAQ:VMED) shares lost 2.43% to US$23.28
on over 6.80 million shares, compared to its average volume of 3.20 million shares.
Last week, the company Usain Bolt boosted Virgin
Media Inc.'s subscriber numbers in the first quarter, as an ad campaign fronted
by the sprinter helped attract 21,200 net cable customers, 6,000 more than in
the last quarter of 2011. Virgin Media has been focusing on attracting business
customers to its cable network, an area that could become more competitive if
mobile operator Vodafone succeeds in buying Cable & Wireless Worldwide.
Virgin Media Inc. is engaged in entertainment and communications business. The company
has two segments: Consumer and Business. The company is a provider of broadband
Internet, television, mobile telephony and fixed line telephony services that
offer a range of entertainment and communications services to residential and
commercial customers throughout the United Kingdom.
Level
3 Communications, Inc. (NYSE:LVLT) soared 5.07% to US$25.49
on over 7.56 million shares, compared to its average volume of 2.28 million
shares. The company said that net loss for the first quarter narrowed to US$138
million, or 66 cents per share, from US$231 million, or US$1.15 per share, a
year ago. Analysts expected a loss of 60 cents per share. Revenue at the
company was nearly flat at US$1.59 billion, in line with analysts' estimates.
Core network service revenue from enterprise customers increased 11 percent to US$1.382
billion in the first quarter. Level 3 said it continued to expect core network
services revenue to grow sequentially for the rest of the year. Excluding
repayment of debt, Level 3 posted a loss of 37 cents per share. Level 3
Communications, Inc. (Level 3) is a facilities-based provider of a range of
integrated communications services. The company provides a range of
communications services, which includes transport, infrastructure and data
services-including, among services, Internet access and Internet protocol (IP)
and Ethernet Virtual Private Networks, broadband transport services.
CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) was down 1.65%
to US$19.72 on over 10.01 million shares, compared to its average volume of
3.71 million shares. The company reported its first quarter 2012 results.
During the quarter, adjusted earnings were 33 cents per share, in line with analysts’
estimates. CenterPoint Energy’s total revenues for
the reported quarter fell 19.4% to US$2.08 billion year over year. During the
quarter, the segment generated operating income of US$107 million, up 5.9% year
over year. The current year operating income includes US$70 million from the
regulated electric transmission & distribution utility operations (“TDU”)
and US$37 million from securitization bonds, both up from the previous year
quarter. CenterPoint Energy reported cash and cash
equivalents of US$1.1 billion at the end of the reported quarter versus only US$0.095
billion at the end of the previous year period. Total long-term debt was US$9
billion compared with US$8.7 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2011.
Sprint
Nextel Corporation (NYSE:S) lost 3.50% to US$2.48 on
over 30.78 million shares, compared to its average volume of 51.72 million
shares. Last week, the company’s first quarter loss below analysts’ estimates
driven by strong performance at wireless segment. The company reported a loss
of US$863 million, or 29 cents per share, compared to a year ago loss of US$439
million, or 15 cents a share. Revenue during the quarter grew 5% to US$8.7
billion from US$8.3 billion. Analysts were projecting the company to report a
loss of 42 cents a share on revenue of US$8.71 billion. The company said that
while its Sprint network added 263,000 new subscribers in the quarter it lost
455,000 customers on its Nextel iDen network, which
it is shutting down. Sprint projects 2012 adjusted OIBDA to be at the high end
of its previously announced forecast of between US$3.7 billion and US$3.9
billion. It forecast full-year net service revenue growth of 4 percent to 6
percent and said full-year capital expenditures would be about US$6 billion. In
the latest quarter, the iPhone effect faded a bit, and Sprint missed analyst
expectations for an all-important figure: The number of new subscribers under
contract. It lost a net 192,000, including Nextel. Looking solely on the Sprint
side, the net gain was 263,000, up just a smidge from last year’s figure.
Aetna
Inc. (NYSE:AET) fell 2.05% to US$44.01 on over 6.63
million shares, compared to its average volume of 4.63 million shares. The
company reported a first quarter performance that missed Wall Street
expectations, and it failed to raise its 2012 earnings forecast. The company
said that earnings fell 13 percent and reaffirmed that it expects 2012 adjusted
earnings, which exclude capital gains or losses, of about US$5 per share. That
falls about 15 cents below analysts' expectations. In the quarter, Aetna's net
income fell to US$511 million, or US$1.43 per share. That's down from US$586
million, or US$1.50 per share, a year ago. Revenue excluding capital gains
climbed 6 percent to US$8.86 billion, above the US$8.61 billion analysts’
estimates.
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