Sprint Nextel (S) reported this morning that it paid off an outstanding loan worth $1 billion on its $4.5 billion revolving credit facility. As a result, the wireless company no longer has an outstanding balance on its revolving credit facility. At the end of the third quarter, Sprint had $5.9 billion on hand in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments, plus $1.6 billion in borrowing capacity under its revolving bank credit facility.

In other Sprint news this morning, Sprint shares were upped from "neutral" to "outperform" at Credit Suisse. Analyst Jonathan Chaplin set his price target at $6, asserting that the company will benefit from cost cutting, stronger sales of prepaid service, and improved customer retention trends. Sprint's stock settled Friday at $3.10, so Chaplin's price target implies expected upside of nearly 94%.

The vision of Clearwire (CLWR) is definitely ambitious: to "give you faster Internet at home, at work and on the go, so that people everywhere will have the magic of the Internet with them all the time." This means building a sophisticated network across the country, which does not come cheap.

Tuesday, Clearwire announced yet another financing round, which comes to $1.56 billion. The investors include Sprint Nextel (S), Comcast (CMCSA), Time Warner Cable (TWC), Intel (INTC), Eagle River Holdings LLC, and Bright House Networks LLC.

Here are some highlights from last week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Aflac Inc. (NYSE: AFL) reported strong Q3 results, declared a dividend, and offered guidance for Q4.
• Avon Products Inc. (NYSE: AVP) Q3 earnings slumped and revenue was hurt by currency translations.
• BP (NYSE: BP) shares leaped higher after it reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings.
• Daimler AG (NYSE: DAI) reported that it returned to profitability in Q3 but warned of decreasing revenue.
• General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD) Q3 earnings beat expectations and it lifted its earnings outlook.
• Hershey Co. (NYSE: HSY) posted strong Q3 earnings and expects full-year earnings ahead of forecasts.

Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) has been on a roll lately. The third-largest wireless carrier in the U.S. has been releasing a whole crop of new cutting-edge phones, has improved its customer service and seems to be on the way to a recovery. Well, everything but that last part.

Sprint Nextel, yet again, lost hundreds of thousands of customers in its most recent quarter in spite or marked improvements throughout its business.

It's extremely tough to survive in the retail consumer electronics space, especially with competitors like Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) and Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT). Yet, RadioShack (NYSE: RSH) continues to find ways push ahead.

Today, the company released its Q3 report. Revenues came in at $990 million, which was a nice beat on the Wall Street consensus (about $962 million). Net income was $37.4 million, or $0.30 per share, which compares to last year's earnings of $49.1 million, or $0.38 per share. Keep in mind that the company has increased spending on branding (for its new positioning as "The Shack," which appears to be getting traction).

Dallas-based AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), the exclusive U.S. carrier for the iPhone, is scheduled to discuss its third quarter 2009 financial results in a conference call Thursday at 10:00 AM ET. You can catch the live webcast of the call on the company's website.

During the three months that ended in September, AT&T revamped many of its retail locations, expanded its global wi-fi presence, and declared a quarterly dividend. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect this leading provider of wireline voice communications services in the U.S. to report that earnings grew 6.0% from a year ago to $0.50 per share. But revenue for the quarter is expected to be 1.5% lower to $30.9 billion.

After more than a year of speculation, it seems that German telecom giant Deutsche Telekom will not buy U.S.-based wireless giant Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S). Deutsche Telekom CFO Timotheus Hoettges indicated that the American wireless competitive landscape had consolidated enough, and the control that the four largest wireless carries in the U.S. have wouldn't make a purchase wise.

Hoettges was quoted as saying, "There are four national players in the U.S. market for 300 million households, while in Europe, where we have 350 million households, there are 50 to 70 operators." It's pretty clear that he thinks the U.S. wireless market is controlled by an oligopoly of operators, which seem to move in tandem with each other in terms of price control and roll out of new technology. Do the "large four" -- Verizon (NYSE: VZ)Wireless, AT&T (NYSE: T), Sprint Nextel, and T-Mobile USA -- move in lockstep with each other for the most part to not give any of the competition a large advantage?

Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) will be purchasing the prepaid wireless carrier Virgin Mobile USA soon, and the last legal hurdle preventing the finalization of that acquisition seems to be history. Sprint Nextel will settle all the outstanding class-action lawsuits -- many of which see Virgin Mobile's $483 million price tag as undervaluing the company.

So, Sprint will become the leader of value wireless as a result sometime later this year. It already provides the most value-conscious contract wireless customers with values you won't find on any other carrier, like free and unlimited calling at any time to any wireless subscriber in the U.S. on certain plans. Combine that with its Boost Mobile prepaid brand and its $50 "all you can eat" plan, and Virgin Mobile's large customer base, and Sprint's resurgence under CEO Dan Hesse is being built on value more than anything.

Clearwire Corp.'s (NASDAQ: CLWR) may be able to relieve some pressure on Sprint Nextel Corp.'s (NYSE: S) national wireless network, according to Sprint CEO Dan Hesse. Although Sprint's existing 3G network is touted to be one of the most reliable in the U.S., moving customers to a more efficient and faster 4G network -- like the ones Clearwire continues to launch -- de-stresses Sprint's existing network.

Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) sent a letter to its Everything Data customers recently informing them that they could now call any mobile phone number in the U.S. -- at any time -- for free.

Sprint's new Any Mobile, Anytime calling plan gives those customers with at least a $70/month bill this new capability.

Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) was just rumored to be under the takeover auspices of European telecom giant Deutsche Telekom. DT has been rumored to be looking strongly at Sprint Nextel to bolster its T-Mobile USA brand in the U.S. But now, that deal appears unlikely according to Thomas Weisel analyst James Breen.

Analyst upgrades:

• Deutsche Bank upgraded Garmin (NASDAQ: GRMN) to Hold from Sell as it believes the company's second half of 2009 is tracking better than expected due to retailer restocking. Deutsche raised its target on shares to $33 from $15 but thinks Garmin's long-term trends remain unfavorable.
• Goldman upgraded Fortune Brands (NYSE: FO) to Buy from Neutral citing potential EPS improvement driven by the Home division. Fortune Brands price target to $49 from $45. Note that the firm downgraded General Mills to Neutral from Buy.
• Oppenheimer upgraded FPIC Insurance (NASDAQ: FPIC) to Outperform from Perform to reflect the company's acquisition of Advocate MD and management's commitment to share repurchases. The firm set a $49 price target on the stock.
• PPG Industries (NYSE: PPG) and Olin Corp. (NYSE: OLN) were upgraded to Neutral from Sell at UBS.
• Synovus (NYSE: SNV) was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at BofA/Merrill.
• Take-Two (NASDAQ: TTWO) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Jaffray.

Deutsche Telekom may be looking to beef up its T-Mobile USA wireless brand with a takeover of troubled Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S).

Although Sprint Nextel has made strides in trying to keep valuable contract wireless customers, it continues to lose hundreds of thousands of them per quarter. The one bright spot: it's adding hundreds of thousands of less-profitable prepaid wireless customers at the same time through its Boost Mobile prepaid brand.

Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S), the third-largest wireless carrier in the U.S. who continues losing customers every single quarter, is at least trying to jump ahead of the competition on high-tech service offerings. The company will be expanding its WiMAX wireless internet offerings to 17 new cities by the end of 2009.

Here are some highlights from last week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) said its profit fell due to higher expenses and warned the trend may continue.
• Avon Products Inc. (NYSE: AVP) topped Q2 earnings expectations, which sent shares higher.
• ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) lower Q2 earnings topped expectations, but revenue was also down.
• DreamWorks Animation Inc. (NYSE: DWA) posted flat Q2 earnings as it waits for the next big DVD release.
• First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) posted a better-than-expected profit but guidance sent shares lower.
• Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (NYSE: JEC) Q3 revenue missed estimates and it lowered its outlook.