Sprint's Stock Slumps After Surprise Loss, Sales Miss

Sprint Corp. shares slumped 1.4% in premarket trade Tuesday, after the communications company reported a surprise first-quarter loss and revenue that missed expectations. In the quarter ended March 31, losses widened to $224 million, or 6 cents a share, from $151 million, or 4 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. The FactSet consensus was for a per-share profit of 1 cent. Revenue declined 7% to $8.28 billion, below the FactSet consensus of $8.79 billion, as lower wireless service revenue, resulting from customer shifts to rate plans associated with device financing options, was partially offset by an increase in equipment sales. Sprint platform net additions totaled 1.2 million, compared with a net loss of 383,000 a year ago, boosted by growth in its prepaid business and fewer postpaid customer losses. The stock has run up 24% year to date through Monday, outperforming the S&P 500's 2.7% gain.