The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Sprint, ADTRAN, Arista Networks, Altice USA And Viavi Solutions

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 8, 2019 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Sprint Corp. (NYSE:S) , ADTRAN, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADTN) , Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) , Altice USA, Inc. (NYSE:S) and Viavi Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAV) .

Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:

Telecom Stock Roundup: Sprint, Adtran, Arista and More

In the past five trading days, telecom stocks witnessed a roller-coaster ride as optimism about the “Phase One” deal between the United States and China withered on uncertainty regarding the venue and the date for signing the proposed agreement. The partial trade accord is anticipated to ease the bilateral tensions created by the prolonged trade war. However, reported demand by the communist nation to roll back the existing U.S. tariffs raised speculations about a probable signing of an agreement in mid-November between President Trump and his Chinese counterpart. In addition, lower-than-expected earnings and relatively soft outlook from hitherto declared results have triggered uncertainty within the beleaguered sector.

Although the sudden push for tariff rollback is not expected to derail the trade negotiations, both the countries have been unable to reach a consensus regarding the venue of the meeting, with a European location appearing to be a preferred choice at the moment. While both sides remain intent to reach an agreement at the earliest on domestic compulsions, it appears that the trade war has been rather a ‘two-steps forward, three-steps backward’ affair. This, in turn, has largely dragged the sector down despite the fact that the S&P is hovering around record-high territories backed by broad-based expectations of a trade settlement, solid jobs report and healthy payroll gains.

Meanwhile, China has launched 5G commercial services across the country as three leading state-run telecom players, namely China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom rolled out 5G data services in 50 cities. Although the communist nation appears to be a late entrant in the 5G race, it is likely to be a frontrunner by next year followed by South Korea and the United States, per Bernstein Research estimates.

Regarding company-specific news, quarterly earnings primarily took the center stage over the past five trading days.

Recap of the Week’s Most Important Stories

1. Sprint Corp. reported lackluster second-quarter fiscal 2019 results, wherein the top line decreased year over year.

For the September quarter, net loss was $274 million or loss of 7 cents per share against net income of $196 million or 5 cents per share in the year-ago quarter. The sharp decline was primarily due to lower revenues for the quarter. The bottom line was wider than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 1 cent. Quarterly total net operating revenues declined to $7,795 million from $8,433 million in the year-ago quarter mainly due to lower service revenues and equipment sales. The top line missed the consensus estimate of $8,165 million. (Read more: Original post

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Written By: Zacks Investment Research