A day after Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) agreed to purchase 100% interest in prepaid wireless company Virgin Mobile, the third-largest wireless company in the U.S. reported that it lost almost a million valuable postpaid wireless customers in its most recent quarter.

Sprint, which has bled millions and millions of customers over the past two years, has managed to offset that blow in the past few quarters by signing up record customer numbers to its Boost Mobile prepaid unit, which shook the industry up at the start of the year with a $50 per month unlimited everything wireless plan.

Here are a few highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Amkor Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: AMKR) easily beat estimates and raised its guidance.
• Crocs Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX) posted solid fourth-quarter results on strong overseas sales.
• DealerTrack Holdings (NASDAQ: TRAK) fourth-quarter revenue rose, but the credit crunch hurt results.
• Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN) fourth-quarter earnings soared on strong holiday sales.
• Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. (NASDAQ: GILT) posted strong quarterly and full-year results.
• HJ Heinz Co. (NYSE: HNZ) raised its guidance productivity gains and favorable exchange rates.
• JAKKS Pacific Inc. (NASDAQ: JAKK) posted solid results, lifted by Hannah Montana and Disney toys.
• Marvel Entertaiment Inc. (NYSE: MVL) earnings doubled despite investment in films not yet released.
• Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM) swung to a fourth-quarter loss despite rising gold prices.
• Safeway Stores Inc. (NYSE: SWY) met fourth-quarter earnings estimates, ending its best year since 2001.
• Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) posted its first $100 billion quarter but lowered its forecast.

Also, Jim Cramer sees Hewlett-Packard as a market bellwether, and Ted Allrich looks at some other bellwether stocks. Sheldon Liber gets a sense of deja vu from Exxon Mobil's (NYSE: XOM) big profits and its tussle with Chavez.

Upcoming results to watch for include Nordstom Inc. (NYSE: JWN), Macy's Inc. (NYSE: M), Washington Post Co. (NYSE: WPO), Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL), Sprint-Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S), and Sears Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: SHLD).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) shares are flat this morning even as most other stocks are falling. The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday afternoon that the company plans to lay off several thousand employees in a move designed to boost profit margins so that it can better compete with rivals AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ). S cut its payroll by about 5,000 jobs last year. Analysts are saying that although cutting costs will help the company, the most pressing issue for S will be finding a way to stop its customers from defecting to its two big rivals. If you think that the company won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on S.

After hitting a one-year high of $23.42 in June, the stock hit a one-year low of $12.10 last week. S opened this morning at $12.23. So far today the stock has hit a low of $12.20 and a high of $12.47. As of 10:30, S is trading at $12.35, down 1 cent (-0.1%). The chart for S looks bearish and steady, while S&P gives the stock a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold rating.

Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) shares are trading higher today after the company announced this morning that it has named Embarq Corp (NYSE: EQ) CEO Dan Hesse as its new president and chief executive. Sprint hopes the seasoned telecom veteran can turn around the company, which has lost market share to rivals AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ). If you think that the company won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on S.

After hitting a one-year high of $23.42 in June, the stock hit a one-year low of $13.86 yesterday. S opened this morning at $14.25. So far today the stock has hit a low of $13.88 and a high of $14.25. As of 10:55, S is trading at $13.98, up 7 cents (0.5%). The chart for S looks bearish and steady, while S&P gives the stock a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold rating.

For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a February bull-put credit spread below the $13 range. A bull-put credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of put options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make a 17.6% return in just 2 months as long as S is above $13 at February expiration. Sprint would have to fall by more than 7% before we would start to lose money.

S hasn't been below $13.86 at all in the past year and has shown support around $14 recently. This trade could be risky if the stock continues its downward slide, but even if that happens, this position could be protected by bargain hunters who might think that S has gotten too cheap.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in S, EQ, VZ, or T.

Sprint-Nextel (NYSE: S) has done poorly since the merger that created the two companies. Over the last year, its shares are up 5%, AT&T's (NYSE: T) up 25%. Part of the problem is that while AT&T and Verizon Wireless have added large numbers of subscribers, the base at Sprint has barely moved.

While Sprint believes that its new 4G WiMax network will revive growth, that is over a year off.

Sprint has come up with another way to boost revenue. It has created an online shopping mall that will offer seven million products from 30 million retailers, including Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) and Target (NYSE: TGT).

According to Reuters, Sprint "said it will not charge mobile users extra subscription fees for the service, but it will charge them for Web access." This should increase the amount of money that the cellular carrier makes from data use on its phones.

Sprint shares a problem with the rest of the U.S. cellular industry. The top three carriers have about 180 million subscribers, so rapid customer growth over future years is unlikely. That means that services delivered through handsets may be one of the few ways for the carriers to bring significant new revenue streams online.

Sprint needs the money most, so it is no surprise that it is first to market with handset-based shopping.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) opened at $21.00. So far today the stock has hit a low of $20.99 and a high of $21.67. As of 11:50, S is trading at $21.37, up $0.58 (2.8%).

After hitting a one year high of $22.82 a full year ago, the stock dove to a year low of $15.92 in August. S has been gradually rising over the past several months, establishing some new support around 20. Sprint is benefiting from Alltel's (NYSE: AT) agreement to a $27.5 billion private takeover deal. Recent technical indicators for S have been bullish and deteriorating slightly, while S&P gives the stock a negative 2 STARS (out of 5) sell rating.

For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a November bull-put credit spread below the $18 range. S hasn't been below $18 since February and has shown support around $20 recently. This trade could be risky if demand the stagnating phone business worsens even more, but even if that happens, S has been in a slow, steady upward trend the past 10 months.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer. DISCLOSURE: Mr. Archer owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls a positions in S or AT.

Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) opened at $68.51. So far today the stock has hit a low of $19.25 and a high of $19.63. As of 12:00 noon, S is trading at 19.51, down 0.03 (0.2%), relatively unfazed by this morning's downgrade from Lehman Brothers.

After hitting a one year high of 26.89 in April, the stock fell to a year low of 15.92 in August. The stock has been relatively flat over the past few months, finding some resistance just above 20. Jim Cramer says Sprint is doing everything right, and their last quarter earnings are proof of the company's strength. He believes the stock is a bargain under 20. The technical indicators for S have been bullish and steady, while S&P gives the stock a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold rating.

For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a May bull-put credit spread below the $17.50 range. S hasn't been below 17.50 since January and has shown support around 19. This trade could be risky with the stock's recent low around 17, but even if S pulls back some, this position could be protected by the strong support just above 18.

Brent Archer is an analyst on the move at Investors Observer. (Free Subscription)

DISCLOSURE: Mr. Archer owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about.

Last night, Sprint-Nextel (NYSE: S) warned that it was going to miss revenue and earnings targets, which should come as no surprise to anyone.

The market for wireless phones has been maturing and Sprint's management has not been very innovative to compete in this business.

Sprint has not done a good job at managing Nextel and appears to have not invested enough in the network infrastructure in this business, a subject I have blogged about in the past. An example of this is the poor job management has done trying to move Nextel customers to a new platform.

Gary Forsee is very much on borrowed time. Forsee, the long-time right-hand man for Bill Esrey, has still not demonstrated the ability to lead a company, having had a tough time since taking the CEO position in March of 2003. This year is more than likely the last chance for him to fix this broken company.

Analysis provided by Theflyonthewall.com:

Since being mentioned as a potential private equity or merger candidate, Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE:S) has rallied 25%.

When Sprint is done bringing in-house all of its affiliates, which should be completed soon, it will become a massive cash flow machine. Sprint's shares were up 15 cents to $20.13 Wednesday at mid-day.

Actually, during the past few quarters, it has become clear that Sprint's management has been running the company for cash generation and margin improvement and not revenue growth. That's another indication that Sprint's board might be evaluating a potential transaction.

In addition, Sprint signed a big deal with the cable companies to provide wireless services to the wireline video and Internet companies this year.

If one of the cable companies does not buy Sprint, look for a huge one-time cash dividend in 2007. Sprint is the only wireless company left that does not have a relation with an old circuit-switched telephone company. The demand for this asset will be big.

A couple weeks ago, I had lunch with Lee Hancock, CEO and founder of Go2. He started the company in 1998 -- thinking cell phones would be more than just for phone calls. "We have a big deal in the works," he said to me.

He was right. Today, his firmed announced its agreement with Yahoo.

Go2 develops applications for mobile devices, such as Yellow Page services. With Yahoo, Go2 will have Yahoo sponsored search listings. Basically, this is a move to take a piece of the local advertising market. In fact, as I wrote about in BloggingStocks.com, Google recently launched a system for online coupons for local businesses. This market is definitely heating-up.

No doubt, to be successful in the local advertising space, a mobile strategy is critical. However, mobile is fairly complex (look at the different carriers, phones and so on).

As for go2, it has a massive footprint.