T-Mobile had what it called a record Q2, however the results were a bit anti-climatic for observers waiting for a possible approval of the mega-merger with Sprint.
In an unusual step, T-Mobile rescheduled the call with investors that typically follows the release of a quarterly earnings report. The change in plans comes after reports surfaced that U.S. regulators were poised to approve the merger between the nation’s third and fourth largest carriers.
UPDATE: $TMUS earnings results will be released at 4:05p ET today, July 25, 2019. Today’s previously scheduled call with investors will be rescheduled. https://t.co/AZQsfhWm19
— T-Mobile IR (@TMobileIR) July 25, 2019
So…no deal today? https://t.co/eQ4d31grej
— Roger Cheng (@RogerWCheng) July 25, 2019
Waiting on the T-Mobile/Sprint news like pic.twitter.com/rvgh16gESb
— Tara Lachapelle (@taralach) July 25, 2019
T-Mobile reported 1.8 million net new customers in the second quarter, up 11 percent over the prior year. The company finished the quarter with more than 83 million total customers.
The company touted an all-time low churn rate of 0.78 percent in the second quarter, meaning less than 1 percent of customers discontinued their phone plans in that period.
?The moral of this sizzling earnings story? Taking care of your customers = good business! ❤️❤️❤️ And good business delivers (in our case) incredible, RECORD BREAKING results!! #WeWontStop https://t.co/UW09a1Xdfw
— John Legere (@JohnLegere) July 25, 2019
T-Mobile’s financials were a mixed bag in the quarter, with the company coming up short on revenue but beating Wall Street expectations for profits. T-Mobile reported earnings of $1.09 per share on revenue of $11 billion, up 4 percent over the prior year. Analysts surveyed in advance by Yahoo Finance expected T-Mobile to post earnings of $0.97 per share on $11.13 billion in revenue.
The company disclosed that it spent $222 million on merger-related costs in the quarter, up from $41 million a year ago. In the third quarter, T-Mobile expects to spend another $150 million to $200 million on merger costs.
T-Mobile stock rose slightly in after-hours trading. Prior to today’s news, the company stock was up 22 percent for the year.
The machinations of the Sprint merger represented the most significant event of the quarter for T-Mobile, but the company kept busy with a couple other major initiatives.
- In April, T-Mobile launched its first take on cable TV: A set-top box that gets to know users’ viewing habits with personalized DVRs for every member of the household. But less than a month later, T-Mobile’s head of home and entertainment Jeffrey Binder left the company. Binder was CEO of Layer3 TV, the company T-Mobile acquired to jumpstart its TV push.
- T-Mobile doubled down on banking as a target for disruption, expanding its mobile banking service, T-Mobile Money, out of the pilot phase and rolling it out nationally.
- All this activity came as T-Mobile shook up its marketing leadership to better integrate Metro by T-Mobile into the broader organization.
