FORT WORTH, Texas-Shares of RadioShack Corp. slid after the company reported disappointing fourth-quarter sales and confirmed it will fall short of projected 2005 earnings-due largely to lagging wireless sales.
The electronics retailer reported total sales during the quarter of $1.67 billion, a 5-percent increase from $1.59 billion a year earlier. But RadioShack said its transition from Verizon Wireless, which the chain stopped selling on Dec. 31, to Cingular Wireless L.L.C. resulted in “significantly lower sales” of Verizon Wireless’ wares in the final quarter.
“Wireless was negatively impacted in our core stores due to our carrier transition from Verizon Wireless,” said David Edmondson, RadioShack’s chief executive officer. An expected increase from the sale of Sprint Nextel Corp.’s offerings, which could have offset Verizon Wireless’ disappointing performance, failed to materialize, Edmondson said.
Shares of RadioShack tumbled 33 cents per share on the news, trading at $21.47 by mid-day on the New York Stock Exchange.
