Sprint is popping after its first positive earnings report in three years (S)

pulse

August 1, 2017 3:25 PM

The number four US telecom needed an earnings boost after years of tough quarters.

Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure speaks at a the National Council of La Raza Annual Conference in Kansas City, Mo.

Shares of Sprint opened almost 7% higher on Tuesday after the telecom company reported a quarterly profit for the first time in three years.

The fourth-largest carrier in the US, controlled by Japan’s SoftBank, reported a net income of $206 million, or 5 cents per share, for the first quarter of this fiscal year. Analysts had expected a loss of 1 cent per share.

The profit is largely a result of thousands of job cuts last year, which trimmed $4 billion from the Kansas-based company’s operating costs.

Aggressive new promotions to court new subscribers led to 61,000 new connections during the quarter, Sprint said, including 88,000 new post-paid subscribers — it’s most lucrative segment.

“Sprint reached an important milestone this quarter by returning to profitability for the first time in three years,” CEO Claure said in a press release“This represents the progress of a turnaround journey that has delivered improvements in postpaid phone and prepaid customer growth, a return to top-line growth, and a significantly transformed cost structure.”

Sprint’s stock price is up 36% over the last 12 months.

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