• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind

2

Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock

3

Mathematicians grapple with a ‘very rapid and very unsettling change’ as AI cracks yet another century-old problem

1

The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind

2

Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock

3

Mathematicians grapple with a ‘very rapid and very unsettling change’ as AI cracks yet another century-old problem
TechThe Mobile Executive

Why This Analyst Thinks Sprint Is Still Doomed

By
Aaron Pressman
Aaron Pressman
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Aaron Pressman
Aaron Pressman
Down Arrow Button Icon
July 29, 2016, 1:02 PM ET
Inside a Sprint Corp. Location Ahead Of Earnings Figures
Customers shop at a Sprint Corp. store inside the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., on Friday, July 22, 2016. Sprint is scheduled to release earnings figures on July 25. Photographer: Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesChristopher Dilts — Bloomberg via Getty Images
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Sprint shares have been on a tear for the past few days, gaining 32% since it reported second quarter results on Monday, July 25.

The fourth-largest U.S. wireless carrier surprised Wall Street analysts with a gain of 173,000 regular monthly phone customers in the second quarter—as well as $2.5 billion of adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. The results were some of the best since Japanese investor Masayoshi Son bought control of Sprint for almost $22 billion three years ago through his Softbank Group company.

The surprise allowed the Softbank CEO to brag that the carrier’s turnaround was nearly complete. “Sprint is no longer dragging us down but is about to turn into a cash maker for us,” Son said on Wednesday after reporting Softbank’s own results.

But not everyone in telecom-land is buying the turnaround.

Veteran analyst Walt Piecyk says investors should sell the stock, which is only worth one-third the current $6.12 price. The recent rally has been fed by unsustainably low capital spending, confusion about the carrier’s actual cash flow, and misplaced optimism about future subscriber gains, Piecyk says.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

Sprint (S) spent only $375 million in the quarter on capital spending needs like improving its national wireless network infrastructure. That was about one-quarter what similar-sized competitor T-Mobile (TMUS) spent and one-eighth what market leader Verizon (VZ) spent. Sprint’s figure represented just 6% of revenue, a level that Sprint probably cannot sustain if it is to continue to improve its network to keep up with rivals, Piecyk said.

“In our experience, operators invest 10% of service revenue when they are struggling, in the low to mid-teens during a normal period, and can spend in excess of 20% of revenue when in the midst of a major network upgrade cycle,” Piecyk wrote in a report on Sprint on Friday.

While Sprint did show modest subscriber growth in the second quarter, compared with a net loss of subscribers in the same quarter of 2015, the carrier would have to grow at a much greater rate of about 750,000 per quarter, or three million per year, to reach a financially sustainable position, Piecyk argued. That would be extremely unlikely given that Sprint would draw much stronger competitive reactions from the larger carriers if it started to gain customers at that rate.

Piecyk also questioned if Sprint could generate enough cash to pay down its hefty debt load on its own, as Softbank’s CEO has said.

Sorting out the actual cash flow at Sprint and the other big wireless carriers has become increasingly complicated as they shifted their business models around smartphone sales. Instead of getting free or discounted phones, with the carriers subsidizing the full cost, most customers now buy the phones at full price and pay in monthly installments.

For more on Softbank’s acquisition of ARM, watch:

Sprint and its peers have then turned around and securitized those customer payments streams in return for up-front cash payments. Some customers at Sprint opt to lease their phones instead of buying them, leading to further accounting complications.

“It can be confusing when companies and our peers claim a company is generating free cash flow and yet net debt rises,” Piecyk wrote. “Based on our definition of free cash flow, which would in fact reduce net debt, we do not believe Sprint will be able to be free cash flow positive in 2017 let alone by the end of this year as Sprint Chairman Masa Son has forecast.”

Sprint rejected Piecyk’s analysis, noting that most other analysts are far more positive on the company.

“Mr. Piecyk is certainly entitled to his opinion, but his opinion is clearly out of touch with nearly every other sell side analyst’s review of our business,” a spokesman said in a statement to Fortune. “Our network is performing at best-ever levels. This past quarter we added more customers than Verizon and AT&T and are narrowing the gap to T-Mobile and our churn was a record low for Sprint. We continue to reduce our operating costs. We have a well thought out plan to manage our liquidity and are executing against it.”

Sprint is on a “pathway to become free cash flow positive” and Piecyk’s $2 stock price target is the lowest among 21 analysts who follow the company, the spokesman noted.

About the Author
By Aaron Pressman
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • TikTok icon
  • YouTube icon

Latest in Tech

Jensen Huang made his $172 billion fortune on AI chips. His family’s $75 million gift to Vanderbilt argues art decides what technology is for
Big Techphilanthropy
Jensen Huang made his $172 billion fortune on AI chips. His family’s $75 million gift to Vanderbilt argues art decides what technology is for
By Sydney LakeJuly 23, 2026
1 hour ago
Thijn Lamers is Co-Founder and President, Noah.
Commentarystart-ups
Adyen co-founder: Europe does not need more ambition. It needs to stop hiding it
By Thijn LamersJuly 23, 2026
1 hour ago
Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer of Alphabet Inc.
AIAlphabet
Anthropic and SpaceX just handed Google the biggest profit quarter in company history—on paper
By Eva RoytburgJuly 22, 2026
9 hours ago
‘It’s called StreetEasy, not StreetHard’: Mamdani cracks down on scourge of ‘housefishing’ and ‘real estate slop’
Real EstateHousing
‘It’s called StreetEasy, not StreetHard’: Mamdani cracks down on scourge of ‘housefishing’ and ‘real estate slop’
By Tatiana SatauaJuly 22, 2026
11 hours ago
As Washington panics about Chinese AI, Jensen Huang says open-source models like Kimi are ‘excellent’ and should be embraced, not banned
AIChina
As Washington panics about Chinese AI, Jensen Huang says open-source models like Kimi are ‘excellent’ and should be embraced, not banned
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 22, 2026
12 hours ago
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sits next to U.S. President Donald Trump.
AITech regulation
OpenAI’s rogue hacking incident was a warning shot. Will it be a wake-up call to finally create AI safety regulation?
By Jeremy Kahn and Emily ForliniJuly 22, 2026
12 hours ago

Most Popular

The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind
Real Estate
The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 22, 2026
16 hours ago
Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock
Success
Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 20, 2026
3 days ago
Mathematicians grapple with a ‘very rapid and very unsettling change’ as AI cracks yet another century-old problem
AI
Mathematicians grapple with a ‘very rapid and very unsettling change’ as AI cracks yet another century-old problem
By Eva RoytburgJuly 21, 2026
2 days ago
OpenAI says its AI models secretly broke out of a secure test environment and hacked into AI company Hugging Face in order to cheat on an evaluation
Cybersecurity
OpenAI says its AI models secretly broke out of a secure test environment and hacked into AI company Hugging Face in order to cheat on an evaluation
By Jeremy Kahn and Emily ForliniJuly 21, 2026
2 days ago
Despite a $156 million contract, Knicks star Jalen Brunson still calls his parents for financial advice any time he makes a big purchase
Success
Despite a $156 million contract, Knicks star Jalen Brunson still calls his parents for financial advice any time he makes a big purchase
By Emma BurleighJuly 21, 2026
2 days ago
Scott Bessent casually says the U.S. has more than $1 trillion in gold—and that it doesn’t matter for the dollar
Economy
Scott Bessent casually says the U.S. has more than $1 trillion in gold—and that it doesn’t matter for the dollar
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 22, 2026
13 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.