http://www.straightstocks.com Leading Stock Market News, Opinions and Commentary Mon, 22 Mar 2010 13:22:49 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 http://www.straightstocks.com/stock-watch/windstream-eyes-more-deals-analyst-blog/ http://www.straightstocks.com/stock-watch/windstream-eyes-more-deals-analyst-blog/#comments Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:25:27 +0000 Zacks Market Commentaries http://www.zacks.com/stock/news/28221/Windstream+Eyes+More+Deals+-+Analyst+Blog Leading rural telecom carrier Windstream Corporation (WIN) reported that it will continue with acquisitions to expand its business. The company may buy smaller telephone operators and broadband Internet service providers to expand operational scale, subscriber base and product/service range.     
 
Windstream is on an acquisition binge as the carrier has spent more than $2.2 billion so far in the current year. The company recently purchased privately held small carrier Lexcom Inc for $143 million in cash. Windstream also acquired Pennsylvania-based rural phone and Internet service operator D&E Communications (DECC) for $333 million in Nov 2009.
 
Windstream is also set to buy privately held regional competitive local exchange carrier NuVox Inc (for roughly $643 million) to boost its high-speed Internet business. Moreover, the company recently announced that it will buy small local exchange carrier Iowa Telecommunication Services (IWA) for approximately $1.1 billion (including $598 million of Iowa debt).
 
Windstream faces a steady decline in its fixed-line phone business, given the rapid customer migration to cellular services and the sluggish economic condition (as customers are “cutting the wire" to save money). The company is facing stiff competition from Tier-1 wireless carriers such as Verizon (VZ) and AT&T (T) as well as VoIP (Internet phone) services from cable operators. Sustained access line erosion continues to weigh on Windstream’s top-line.
 
While Windstream’s acquisition strategy is vital for its survival in a consolidating industry, we remain concerned about its highly leveraged balance sheet as the company is funding most of the acquisitions with debt.
 
Windstream raised $400 million in unsecured debt in Sep 2009 to finance the D&E and Lexcom acquisitions. The company currently has just $290 million in cash and roughly $5.3 billion in total debt, which aggravate our concern.
Read the full analyst report on "WIN"
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]]> http://www.straightstocks.com/stock-watch/windstream-eyes-more-deals-analyst-blog/feed/ 0 http://www.straightstocks.com/stock-watch/telus-expands-iptv-reach-analyst-blog/ http://www.straightstocks.com/stock-watch/telus-expands-iptv-reach-analyst-blog/#comments Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:20:38 +0000 Zacks Market Commentaries http://www.zacks.com/stock/news/27723/Telus+Expands+IPTV+Reach++-+Analyst+Blog Telus Corp (TU), Canada’s second largest telecom carrier, has reportedly expanded coverage of its Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) services in western Canada. The company’s IPTV service is now available to the residents in Lethbridge and Medicine Hat in Alberta and Campbell River in British Columbia.

Telus offers its IPTV service (as Telus TV) which provides video and broadcast services to customers in selected markets in Canada. Telus TV, which is being positioned as an alternative to cable TV, offers more than 390 channels (including 35 High Definition TV channels), Video-On-demand service and a personal video recorder (PVR).

The company’s IPTV subscriber base exceeded the 100,000 milestone in April 2009, supported by increased adoption by high-speed Internet customers, aggressive promotional initiatives and attractive feature additions.

Telus expanded its IPTV service offering with the launch of Telus Satellite TV in British Columbia and Alberta (two major markets in western Canada) in June 2009 through a joint venture initiative with Bell Canada, the wireless subsidiary of BCE Inc (BCE).

The new satellite TV service has enabled Telus to offer a “Quadruple-Play" bundled service (fixed-line, wireless, Internet and video) to more than 90% of the households across British Columbia and Alberta. Moreover, the inclusion of satellite TV has also broadened the coverage of Telus’ IPTV services in urban areas as well as low-penetration rural markets.

Telus is also expanding its High Definition TV (HDTV) coverage through its broadband network enhancement program. This represents a part of the company’s more than $700 million investment to improve broadband infrastructure and advanced wireless services in Alberta.

Telus contends with a sluggish Canadian economy and stiff domestic competition, which would intensify with the entry of new wireless players in late 2009 and early 2010. The company continues to lose local phone access lines (both business and residential) to competitors such as wireless service providers and cable TV operators offering Internet phone (VoIP) services.

Telus has strategized to offset erosion in its core wireline business with IPTV and broadband data content services. The company registered healthy net additions of 22,000 video customers in the last quarter bringing the total IPTV subscriber base to 137,000 customers, representing an 83% year-over-year growth.
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]]> http://www.straightstocks.com/stock-watch/telus-expands-iptv-reach-analyst-blog/feed/ 0 http://www.straightstocks.com/stock-watch/kts-q3-profit-soars-analyst-blog/ http://www.straightstocks.com/stock-watch/kts-q3-profit-soars-analyst-blog/#comments Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:17:46 +0000 Zacks Market Commentaries http://www.zacks.com/stock/news/26878/KT%27s+Q3+Profit+Soars+-+Analyst+Blog South Korea’s largest fixed-line carrier, KT Corp. (KTC), announced third quarter results with reported net income increasing 80% year over year to KRW351.4 billion (US$285 million) or KRW1,497 per share (70 cents per ADS). The annualized growth was driven by gains from wireless and a stronger Korean won versus the US dollar, which helped reduce the cost for foreign currency debt.
 
Revenues for the quarter increased 3.9% year over year to KRW4.82 triillion (US$1.97 billion), driven by growth in wireless data and subscriber base. However, operating profit declined 11.7% year over year to KRW413.1 billion (US$335 million) due to increase in depreciation and amortisation costs and higher marketing expenses resulting from intense competiion.
 
KT is battling with its Korean peers SK Telecom (SKM) and LG Dacom to win new customers in a highly matured domestic wireless market, represented by approximately 96% mobile penetration. 
 
EBITDA for the quarter was KRW1.16 trillion (US$0.9 billion), reflecting a 12.6% year over year decrease. EBITDA margin decreased to 24.1% from 28.7% registered in the year-ago quarter.
 
Wireless
 
Revenues for the wireless segment increased 13.7% year over year to KRW2.5 trillion (US$2 billion), driven by increase in subscriber count and the company’s merger with its wireless unit KT Freetel. Wireless data revenues increased 11.3% year over year to KRW303 billion (US$246 million) fuelled by growth in flat rate customer base. At the end of the quarter, wireless subscriber count reached 14.9 million, reflecting a 4.5% annualized growth.
 
Internet
 
Internet access revenues declined 3.8% year over year to KRW513 billion (US$416 million) due to lower broadband revenues which declined 6.2% year over year to KRW 478 billion (US$387 million). Revenues from WiBro service increased 88.3% from the year-ago quarter to KRW29 billion (US$24 million).
 
At the end of the quarter, KT’s broadband subscriber base was approximately 6.8 million, up 0.9% year over year. The company’s WiBRO customer base increased 48.3% year over year to 255,000 customers. IPTV (video over broadband connectivity) subscriber base grew 12.2% year over year to 907,000.
 
Fixed-line Telephony
 
Fixed-line telephony revenues decreased 4.4% year over year to KRW1.23 trillion (US$1 billion). Local, domestic long-distance and LM interconnection revenues declined 8.4%, 19.1% and 16.3%, respectively, due to decrease in subscriber base and call traffic.
 
The company exited the quarter with 19.8 million fixed-line telephony subscribers, down 5% year over year. Internet phone (VoIP) customer base reached 1.27 million, compared to last year’s 261,000 subscribers.    
  
Following its merger with KT Freetel in June 2009, KT became a full-service provider controlling approximately 90% and 31% of the South Korean fixed-line and wireless market.
 
The merged company is aggressively rolling out converged services (bundling landline, broadband, video and mobile) at affordable rate plans in an effort to offset the declines in its legacy landline business amid an intensely competitive Korean telecom market. KT has also launched a single rate plan for both local and long-distance calls to boost subscriber retention.
 
KT remain confident in achieving its target of KRW1.8 trillion (US$1.5 billion) in operating profit and KRW19 trillion (US$15 billion) in revenues for 2009, driven by the healthy performance of its wireless unit and ongoing cost cutting initiatives. However, recent wireless tariff reduction by Korean government may impact revenues in the coming quarters. 
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