Sprint: Heading For A Buck?

Where’s the bottom for Sprint Nextel (S) ? Simon Flannery, telecom analyst at Morgan Stanley , thinks the answer is $1: that’s his price target on the stock. Flannery resumed coverage of the company this morning with an Underweight rating. (Morgan had been advising Clearwire on its deal to buy Sprint’s Xohm business; as noted earlier , Flannery today also resumed coverage of Clearwire with an Underweight rating.) “We believe it will be challenging for Sprint to reverse the recent trend of significant subscriber losses, and forecast results well below consensus in 2009 and beyond,” he wrote in a research note this morning. Flannery now sees the company posting a loss of 63 cents a share in 2009 and 98 cents in 2010; his previous loss estimates were 53 cents in ‘09 and 79 cents in 2010. The Street sees losses of 16 cents in 2009 and 15 cents in 2010. Flannery cites three key reasons for his continued bearish stance: The Nextel business is in ... (link)