Sprint stock hit levels not seen since last November following comments of continued support from SoftBank chairman
Sprint stock surged more than 10% Tuesday, on the heels of a pending management shakeup at parent company SoftBank.
Investors traded more than three times the average daily volume in Sprint shares (S) Tuesday, with the carrier’s stock eventually adding nearly 8% in value by the end of the day, closing at $4.16 per share. The carrier’s stock at one point hit $4.40 per share, a close and peak it had not seen since last November.
The run followed news from SoftBank that Group President and COO Nikesh Arora is set to leave those positions July 1, taking up an advisory role for the Japan-based firm. The move is also expected to see Arora relinquish his current position on the board of directors at SoftBank subsidiary Sprint.
SoftBank Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son named Arora to Sprint’s board of directors last November, in a move expanding the carrier’s board to nine members and with an intent to provide greater leadership for Sprint.
“His broad experience and executive leadership in leading-edge technology companies will provide valuable insight and perspective to further Sprint’s growth and overall competitiveness,” Son said at the time.
In announcing Arora’s departure, Son noted his continued support of Sprint, which continues to struggle in finding its footing. SoftBank gained control of Sprint in mid-2013, and has since invested heavily in its U.S. operations.
“I want to cement SoftBank 2.0, develop Sprint to its true potential and work on a few more crazy ideas,” Son said in a statement. “This will require me to be CEO for at least another five to 10 years – this is not a time frame for me to keep Nikesh waiting for the top job.”
Sprint’s latest quarterly results showed both a year-over-year and sequential drop in total revenue to just under $8.1 billion for the quarter. The carrier had previously reported $8.1 billion in fiscal third-quarter revenue and nearly $8.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2014. For the full year, revenue dropped more than $2 billion from $34.5 billion in 2014, to $32.2 billion in 2015.
Sprint said it managed to trim $1.3 billion in cost of services and selling, general and administrative expenses in fiscal year 2015, which is part of an overall plan to trim $2 billion in overall annual expenses. The carrier said it expects to hit that mark exiting fiscal 2016, with one quarter of the amount coming from both operating and capital expenses.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization did show overall improvement, hitting more than $2.1 billion for the quarter compared with $1.7 billion last year. Adjusted EBITDA margins also improved from 24.4% last year to 32.8% this year.
Moving forward, Sprint said it ended fiscal 2015 with $11 billion in committed liquidity, including more than $5 billion added during the last quarter through a pair of deals.
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