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04/20/2006 Dow Jones News Services (Copyright © 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.) By Riva Richmond Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Earthlink Inc. (ELNK) said net income fell 51% and revenue slipped 7.5%, as the Internet service provider ramped up spending on growth initiatives it hopes will jump start sluggish revenue from its core consumer access business. However, EarthLink's stock jumped as much as 8% in morning trading, propelled by a profit figure that was better than Wall Street expected as well as improved financial and subscriber forecasts for the full year that move the company toward growth. The profit beat was due mainly to lower-than-expected losses from EarthLink's Helio wireless joint venture with SK Telecom Co. (SKM), in light of slightly delayed product rollouts. And the better outlook was sparked by near-term cost reductions caused by rollout delays for EarthLink's new Internet-calling and DSL bundled service, provide with Covad Communications Group Inc. (DVW), and the addition of New Edge Networks, whose acquisition closed last week. "Everybody just wants to see top-line growth," said Chief Executive Garry Betty of the market reaction in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires. He predicted more share gains as the company executes on its growth plans and starts showing results from its initiatives, which include Internet calling, Helio and providing municipal Wi-Fi Internet services under city contracts. Early Thursday, the Atlanta company reported first-quarter net income of $16.4 million, or 12 cents a share, down from $33.3 million, or 22 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue fell to $310 million from $335 million. Analysts expected earnings of 8 cents a share on revenue of $311 million, according to a survey by Thomson First Call. "EarthLink had another good quarter with our existing business performing as expected in terms of subscribers, revenues, and profitability," Betty said on a conference call with analysts early Thursday. "As 2006 continues to unfold, EarthLink expects to add voice subscribers, additional Wi-Fi markets and integrate the New Edge Networks acquisition." EarthLink will gain its first concrete experience with running muni Wi-Fi networks in the next couple of quarters, when its services in Anaheim, Calif., and Philadelphia begin to come on line. As for additional contracts, the company is focused on New Orleans, which will choose a provider in early May, and Minneapolis, which is also expected to make a provider selection this quarter. Four or five other cities where EarthLink has bid are also close to decisions, Betty said in the interview. The company said it now expects full-year net income between break- even and a loss of $40 million, slightly better than the company's February prediction, which put the low end of the range at a loss of $45 million. Both estimates include $90 million to $110 million in expected losses from Helio. The company lifted its revenue forecast to between $1.33 billion and $1.38 billion, due mainly to the addition of 8 1/2 months of New Edge Networks' annual revenue, expected to total about $130 million. EarthLink previously predicted full-year revenue of about $1.3 billion, in-line with 2005 levels. EarthLink also raised is 2006 subscriber forecast, predicting net new subscriber additions of 50,000 and 75,000. Previously it predicted subscriber numbers would be flat at total of about 5.3 million. EarthLink's stock recently traded at $9.73, up 5.1% or 47 cents, on volume of 1.8 million shares, compared with average daily volume of 1.9 million shares. -By Riva Richmond, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5670; riva.richmond@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires 04-20-06 1154ET Copyright (c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. ------------------------------------------------------------- da können die anderen "Großen" was lernen |
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| aus der Diskussion: | langsam wird es peinlich, seit 19.10. jeden Tag +20% ! Covad Communications ! |
| Autor (Datum des Eintrages): | CovadFan (20.04.06 22:21:07) |
| Beitrag: | 504 von 705 (ID:21263815) |
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