(Associated Press via NewsEdge) Sprint Nextel's second-quarter profit fell 38% as the nation's third-largest wireless carrier absorbed costs from its formative merger last year.
Sprint Nextel, struggling to attract and retain higher-paying subscribers, also slightly lowered its earnings guidance.
Sprint shares plunged to a new 52-week low, down $2.95, or 14.7%, to $17.18 in morning trading Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange.
The company earned $370 million in the three months that ended June 30, compared with $599 million during the same period a year ago.
Not including merger-related amortization expenses and other one-time charges, the company said it earned $0.32 per share, falling a penny short of the $0.33 per share predicted by analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.
Sprint Nextel was formed a year ago when Sprint acquired Nextel for $35 billion. Chairman and CEO Gary Forsee said the company continues to smooth out the wrinkles between the consumer-heavy Sprint side and the business-centered Nextel side.
'We're still in transition,' Forsee told analysts during a conference call. 'We're still dialing in how to take advantage of these two customer bases.'
As a result, the company said it was lowering its guidance for annual operating income before depreciation and amortization to between $12.6 billion and $12.9 billion, down from $13 billion.
Revenue in the second quarter increased 76 % to $10.0 billion from $5.7 billion a year ago. Analysts had expected revenue of $10.4 billion.
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