The following list includes ratings changes and financial information for wireless companies announced this week by investment-banking and financial-services firms.

Carriers

--Morgan Stanley reinstated its equal-weight rating on Verizon Communications after the company’s stock recently outperformed both the market and the telecom sector. Barclays Capital lowered its EPS estimates on the company to $2.54 from $2.58 for this year and to $2.63 from $2.64 for next year.

--Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services assigned its B- corporate credit rating to Clearwire with a stable outlook. "The very low speculative-grade rating on Clearwire reflects our opinion that the company will have large EBITDA losses and discretionary cash flow deficits for at least several years coupled with a substantial debt burden," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Allyn Arden, " It also reflects our view that it has a vulnerable business position as a developmental stage company with uncertain growth prospects for fourth-generation (4G) wireless broadband services, a limited operating history, technology risk, and significant competition from existing wireline and wireless broadband services.”

--RBC Capital Markets downgraded MetroPCS to sector perform and lowered its price target to $15 from $19 on the weak economy and increased competition.

--RW Baird upgraded Leap Wireless to outperform on strong current and expected subscriber trends.

Handset and infrastructure vendors

--Barclays Capital lowered its price target on Nokia to $13 from $14.50 and cuts its earnings estimates on soft fourth-quarter handset demand and seasonal first-quarter weakness. New estimates are $1.87 rather than $1.91 for 2009 and 98 cents rather than $1.04 for 2010. Barclays Capital adjusted its estimates on Nokia to $1.90 from $1.87 for the current year and to 90 cents from 98 cents for next year. Standard & Poor's Ratings Services revised its outlook on Nokia to stable from positive on expected weaker operating performance in 2009 due to the macroeconomic downturn. S&P also affirmed it’s a long-term and A-1 short-term corporate credit ratings on the company. “The outlook revision primarily reflects our expectation that global handset sales will fall significantly in 2009," explained Standard & Poor's credit analyst Matthias Raab. "This will likely affect Nokia's margins and free cash flow generation, therefore making an upgrade to 'A+' unlikely in the short term."

--Credit Suisse First Boston raised its estimates and price target on Ericsson but warned of a wireless infrastructure spending downturn and retained its underperform rating on the company. Barclays Capital raised its price target on the company to $7 from $6 and adjusted its EPS estimates on the company to 80 cents from 79 cents for this year and to 56 cents from 58 cents for next year.

Other

--Credit Suisse First Boston lowered its estimates on Texas Instruments after the company reported fourth-quarter results and weak guidance. New estimates are 23 cents on revenues of $8.1 billion from 55 cents on $9.5 billion for 2009. Barclays Capital raised its estimates on TI to $1.57 from $1.48 for the current year and to 30 cents from 15 cents for next year.

--Barclays Capital lowered its price target on American Tower to $41 from $46.

--Barclays Capital cut its price target on Crown Castle to $26 from $41 on expectations of the cost of borrowing increasing materially as the company looks to refinance debt.

--Barclays Capital lowered its price target on SBA Communications to $24 from $38 on the increased cost of borrowing.

--R.W. Baird lowered its price target on F5 Networks to $22 from $23 on product revenue declines. The firm also lowered its EPS estimates on the company to $1.47 from $1.50 for fiscal year 2009.

  Email Article   |   Print Article   |   Permalink  |  More from: aa_Default_category |

---

Post a Comment

Name (required)
Email (will not be published) (required)

[Post a comment to this article] [Hide]