Sprint Nextel Q3 net income drops 77%

Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) saw Q3 net income decline 77% to $64 million in its most recent earnings release Thursday. To put that into perspective, the company scored $279 million in net income in the year-ago quarter, but for the Q3 period in 2007, lower wireless revenue just couldn't prop the company's numbers up.

Sprint, in the midst of firing CEO Gary Forsee in October, is a great company with leading technology implementation, admirable customer numbers and huge potential in the future. Too bad all that has been plagued by a completely mis-managed merger with Nextel, customer service issues and mounds of defecting customers. It will get back on track, but investors want to now when.

Sprint's operating revenue for the Q3 period dropped 4.2% to $10 billion from $10.5 billion a year ago, with analyst estimates coming in at $10.2 billion. The company's wireless revenue -- probably the most watched revenue component in the company -- declined 4% to $8.7 billion for the quarter, while wireline revenue fell 1% to $1.6 billion. Shares closed at $16.58 yesterday, down from over $20 just three months ago.