Leap Wireless International (LEAP) posts deep third-quarter loss

Posted Dec 14th 2007 1:11PM by Eliza Popescu
Filed under: Earnings Reports, Forecasts, Bad News, Management

As Joseph Lazzaro wrote earlier, the market has been selling-off today on inflation concerns, but not all stocks have been hit by today's sell off. In fact, there have been a handful of notable names that have managed to gain ground in today's session.

Shares of wireless carrier Leap Wireless International Inc. (NASDAQ: LEAP) have been surging today, even as the company reported yesterday evening a third-quarter loss of $43.3 million, or 64 cents a share. Analysts had only been expecting to see the wireless carrier show a loss of 22 cents a share, excluding items, according to Reuters Estimates. Included in the company's loss figures were 55 cents per share related to a quarterly change in tax accounting methods. Excluding that, Leap posted a loss of 9 cents a share, handily beating analyst estimates.

The company had a pretty good quarter overall. If you take a look at sales, you see a very respectable jump of 40% in the quarter, which is a great increase. The company posted a third-quarter revenue of $409.7 million, topping analysts' expectations for sales of $405.6 million.

Looking ahead, a Bear Stearns analyst said he anticipates strong gains for Leap Wireless due to the Christmas shopping season. The wireless carrier is also optimistic and expects further improvements in key areas like subscriber growth.

As the market continues to deal with mounting economic concerns, do not be surprised to see the company continue to move higher into next week.

Eliza Popescu is a financial writer for the online investment advisory service Investor's Observer.

Tags: charge, forecast, inthenews, LEAP, Leap Wireless International, LeapWirelessInternational, loss