Leading unlimited wireless carrier MetroPCS Communications (PCS) reported better-than-expected third-quarter 2009 results with earnings per share (EPS) of 21 cents outpacing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 9 cents, as well as the prior-year quarter EPS of 13 cents. Net income increased 64% year over year to $73.6 million, driven by healthy revenue growth across all segments. Revenue & EBITDA Consolidated revenues of $895.6 million reflect 30.4% year-over-year increase, fuelled by 33% annualized growth in service revenue that reached $812.3 million (91% of total sales). Equipment revenue was $83.3 million, up 9.5% year over year. Revenues at the Core Markets segment increased 18.6% year over year to $809 million. Northeast Markets revenues grew to $87 million from $5 million reported a year-ago. Consolidated adjusted EBITDA increased 35% year over year to $272 million. ARPU & Churn Reported ARPU (average revenue per user) of $41.08 ...

America Movil (AMX) reported results for third-quarter 2009 with earnings per ADS of 86 cents edging past the Zacks Consensus Estimates of 85 cents while increasing 22.6% from the year-ago earnings per ADS of 70 cents. Net profit surged 50.6% year over year to 18.7 billion pesos (US$1.4 billion) or 0.57 pesos per share. This healthy growth was fuelled by higher revenue and lower financing costs which fell 82.5% year over year due to gains stemming from favorable exchange rate swings.  Revenue & EBITDA Latin America’s largest wireless carrier continues to register a double-digit revenue growth as evident from the 16.9% year over year increase in consolidated revenue in the quarter to 99.8 billion pesos (US$7.5 billion), driven by 19.5% growth in service revenue. Revenue growth was supported by healthy business momentum across 3G wireless and broadband Internet businesses.  Consolidated EBITDA for the quarter was 40.4 ...

AT&T (T) has introduced a new unlimited monthly calling plan for the prepaid wireless market. Starting today, customers subscribing to the company prepaid wireless services receive unlimited voice calls, instant messaging as well as text, picture and video messaging for just $60 a month. However, the plan does not cover iPhone users. Apart from the U.S., the new unlimited plan covers Mexico, Canada and over 100 countries worldwide. Roaming within the U.S. is free of cost. This prepaid rate plan is about 50% lower than the company’s regular postpaid unlimited (voice and text) service plan. AT&T offers its prepaid services under the "GoPhone" brand, which does not require the customer to sign long-term contracts and keep a minimum deposit. While the company remains a dominant player in the postpaid market (representing 86% of the company’s total net customer additions), it is struggling to retain customers in ...

MetroPCS (PCS), a leading provider of unlimited pre-paid wireless service in the US, has reportedly expanded its national unlimited service coverage to include new markets in the Midwest, Northwest and parts of the Eastern US.

This expansion has nearly doubled the number of cities and towns that MetroPCS serves in the US to more than 11,000. The expanded coverage is being offered to the company's customers (on $40 or higher monthly rate plans) without any additional cost.

MetroPCS offers a broad range of wireless broadband services in the selected metropolitan areas in the US, leveraging its proprietary CDMA technology based network. The company remains one of the lowest cost wireless service providers in the US, which enables it to roll out a range of cheap service plans that start as low as $30 per month.

MetroPCS is currently enjoying meaningful traction in the Northeast region as approximately 94% of the new

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Here are the stocks added to the Zacks #1 Rank ("strong buy") List today:

America Movil SAB de CV (AMX) America's Car-Mart Inc (CRMT) ATC Technology Corp (ATAC) ATMI Inc (ATMI) AXA (AXA) BHP Billiton Ltd (BHP) BlackRock Inc (BLK) Brush Engineered Material (BW) Carter's Inc (CRI) The Corporate Executive Board Co (EXBD) Dynamex Inc (DDMX) First Midwest Bancorp Inc (FMBI) Forestar Group Inc (FOR) Hanger Orthopedic Group Inc (HGR) HF Financial Corp (HFFC) HLTH Corp (HLTH) Kirkland's Inc (KIRK) ...

MetroPCS (PCS), a leading provider of unlimited pre-paid wireless service in the US, has reportedly expanded its New York City area service to include additional markets in the Tri-State region. The company has extended its unlimited service footprint to include Long Island, North Central New Jersey, White Plains and New Rochelle in New York, and Stamford and Bridgeport in Connecticut. This expansion represents a part of MetroPCS’ ongoing initiative to increase its penetration in the lucrative Northeast region. The company entered Las Vegas and Philadelphia during 2008 and launched its low-cost unlimited wireless service in New York and Boston in February 2009, representing a major business expansion. MetroPCS (PCS) offers a broad range of wireless broadband services (under the MetroPCS brand) in the selected metropolitan areas in the US, leveraging its proprietary code division multiple access (CDMA) technology based network. The company sells its products ...

After the market close on July 21, 2009, Latin America’s largest wireless carrier America Movil (AMX) reported financial results for the second quarter of 2009. Net profit overflowed both consensus and our expectations surging 27.5% year-over-year to 22.5 billion pesos (US$1.7 billion) or 0.69 pesos (US$1.03) per share. This healthy growth was fuelled by higher revenue, lower subscriber retention costs and foreign exchange gains of 4.8 billion pesos (US$360 million) stemming from the appreciation of Mexican peso against the US dollar.  America Movil continues to register double-digit revenue growth as evident from the 11% year-over-year increase in consolidated revenue in the second quarter to 94 billion pesos (US$7 billion), backed by 15.9% growth in service revenue.  The company’s largest market Mexico posted 2.9% year-over-year growth in revenues to 34.9 billion pesos (US$2.6 billion). Mexican ARPU (average revenue per user) declined from the year-ago quarter while reported ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – July 14, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: America Movil (AMX), Apple Inc (AAPL), Telefonica (TEF), Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and Chevron Corp. (CVX).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513

Here are highlights from Monday’s Analyst Blog:

America Movil Battles Movistar

America Movil (AMX), the leading provider of wireless services in Latin America, has announced its plan to launch the highly anticipated iPhone 3GS, an upgraded version of Apple Inc’s (AAPL) iPhone 3G, in six countries across central and south America by

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America Movil (AMX), the leading provider of wireless services in Latin America, has announced its plan to launch the highly anticipated iPhone 3GS, an upgraded version of Apple Inc’s (AAPL) iPhone 3G, in six countries across central and south America by July 31, 2009. The company will initially commercialize the new device in Mexico, Columbia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Uruguay and the Dominican Republic, which will be followed by expansion to other markets under its coverage universe. The latest iPhone model offers superior features and functionality compared to the iPhone 3G, including faster processor speed, improved battery life and a better camera. Through its largest subsidiary Telcel, America Movil currently dominates the Mexican wireless market facilitated by its well-known brand, extensive distribution network, nationwide coverage and the country’s benign regulatory environment. The company’s share of the Mexican wireless market was nearly 71% in 2008, with 65% ...

Millicom is Consolidating its Balance Sheet Millicom International Cellular S.A. (MICC), a Luxemburg-based leading global wireless service provider in various emerging markets, is exploring all options to improve its highly leveraged balance sheet.

The company had approximately $2.2 billion of total debt and $729 million of cash & cash equivalent at the end of the first quarter 2009. Management has taken several decisions, the first of which is to reduce its capital expenditure.

Historically, Millicom has benefited from the huge capital expenditure it had undertaken to expand and upgrade networks, which resulted in significant subscriber growth and record revenue. Since a major part of fiscal 2008 capital spending was earmarked to improve network coverage, it is expected that the company will now benefit from service expansion.

Management has stated that capital spending will decrease to $850 million in 2009, compared to $1.43 billion in the previous year, improving the company’s ability

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