Earnings Roundup: GTE meets the street in 2Q
Telecommunications provider GTE Corp. (NYSE: GTE) said Monday second-quarter earnings were 79 cents a share, on target with First Call's expectation, and an increase of 14.5 percent over the year-ago quarter, on net income of $776 million.
Shares fell 1/4 to 76 in initial trading Monday, below their 52-week high of 78 1/2.
Consolidated revenue was $6.3 billion in the second quarter compared with a newly adjusted revenue of $5.9 billion in the second quarter of 1998, an increase of 7 percent. Among major contributors to the growth were domestic access line growth of 2.2 million or 10 percent, for a total of 25 million access lines in service, and long-distance revenue growth of $52 million or 40 percent.
GTE added 5 million wireless and 3 million long-distance customers during the quarter.
The company's Internetworking data revenue also grew $87 million or 62 percent from the same period last year.
"Especially gratifying is the outstanding growth and continued evolution of our data and Internet businesses, in which we have made substantial investments over the past two years as part of our overall strategy for growth," GTE Chairman and CEO Charles R. Lee said in a company release.
GTE has a pending merger with Bell Atlantic. Ten out of 22 analysts covering GTE currently rate it a "strong buy," according to Zacks Investment Research.
Other companies reporting quarterly results:
Shares in the telecommunications company that provides international services, including long distance, calling card, private line, and Internet based services were down 2 1/4 to 20 1/4 Monday morning.
Revenues for the second quarter 1999 were $367.7 million, compared to $166.6 million for the second quarter 1998, a gain of 121 percent, continuing the trend of strong growth, the company said. Loss for the second quarter 1999 improved to $3.9 million.
Itzhak Fisher, President and CEO of RSL, said he was particularly pleased with performance in Europe, where revenues grew in over 17 percent sequentially, despite a strengthening U.S. dollar and competition in Germany.
Revenue from operations in Europe, RSL's largest market segment, were $178.3 million in the second quarter 1999, compared to $48.7 million in the second quarter 1998, up 266 percent. Revenues from operations in North America and the Asia/Pacific region were also up. RSL fell after reporting losses last quarter.
Shares in the recently public company were down 1/8 to 291/4 in early morning trading.
Revenues for the period were $5.1 million, a 150 percent increase over those of the prior year and a 24 percent advance over the quarter ended March 31, 1999. BackWeb's operating net loss was an improvement over the $3.5 million, or 18 cents a share reported for the second quarter of 1998.
"Our strong revenue growth, key customer wins, and growing strategic alliances continue to move us closer toward our objective of being recognized as the de facto standard in Priority Internet communications," said BackWeb Chairman and CEO Eli Barkat in a company release. New customers included U S West and Hewlett-Packard.
BackWeb is headquartered in San Jose, California, and Ramat Gan, Israel. Two analysts rate the stock a "buy," and one rates it a "strong buy" according to Zacks Investment Research.