By Sinead Carew
NEW YORK, May 5 (Reuters) - Clearwire Corp posted 72 percent growth in quarterly revenue, ahead of Wall Street estimates, on stronger than expected demand for a high-speed wireless service it is building.
Clearwire also said it had changed the terms of its technology agreement with Intel Corp, a major shareholder, to give both companies more flexibility to end the pact. This would allow Clearwire to add new technology to its network that it had been restricted from doing under the previous deal.
Clearwire shares rose 3 percent after the company said it added 283,000 net new customers in the quarter, beating the average expectation of almost 192,000 from four analysts polled by Reuters.
The company also promised to sell two high-speed phones by the end of the year with one device from Samsung Electronics and another from HTC Corp.
Roe Equity Research analyst Kevin Roe was impressed by the company's outlook for service revenue and its customer growth.
'I'm very pleased with the progress in the first quarter,' said Roe. 'This is more positive. This will give the Street more confidence in the Clearwire story.'
Roe said the company's expectation for 2010 average monthly revenue per user (ARPU) above $41, compared with his previous expectation for ARPU just below $40.
Clearwire, which is about 55 percent owned by Sprint Nextel Corp, said its quarterly loss swell to $94.1 million, or 47 cents per basic share, from $71 million, or 37 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.
But the latest quarterly loss was narrower than the 51 cents per share loss expected by Wall Street according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Revenue rose to $106.7 million from $62.1 million the same quarter the year before and was ahead of expectations for $97.18 million from analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Their estimates ranged from 153,000 to 238,000.
The company is also part owned by cable operators Comcast Corp and Time Warner Cable Inc, as well as Google Inc.
Clearwire shares rose to $7.79 in extended trading after closing at $7.56 on Nasdaq.
(Reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by Andre Grenon and Richard Chang) Keywords: CLEARWIRE/ (sinead.carew@thomsonreuters.com +1 646 223 6186) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
NEW YORK, May 5 (Reuters) - Clearwire Corp posted 72 percent growth in quarterly revenue, ahead of Wall Street estimates, on stronger than expected demand for a high-speed wireless service it is building.
Clearwire also said it had changed the terms of its technology agreement with Intel Corp, a major shareholder, to give both companies more flexibility to end the pact. This would allow Clearwire to add new technology to its network that it had been restricted from doing under the previous deal.
Clearwire shares rose 3 percent after the company said it added 283,000 net new customers in the quarter, beating the average expectation of almost 192,000 from four analysts polled by Reuters.
The company also promised to sell two high-speed phones by the end of the year with one device from Samsung Electronics and another from HTC Corp.
Roe Equity Research analyst Kevin Roe was impressed by the company's outlook for service revenue and its customer growth.
'I'm very pleased with the progress in the first quarter,' said Roe. 'This is more positive. This will give the Street more confidence in the Clearwire story.'
Roe said the company's expectation for 2010 average monthly revenue per user (ARPU) above $41, compared with his previous expectation for ARPU just below $40.
Clearwire, which is about 55 percent owned by Sprint Nextel Corp, said its quarterly loss swell to $94.1 million, or 47 cents per basic share, from $71 million, or 37 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.
But the latest quarterly loss was narrower than the 51 cents per share loss expected by Wall Street according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Revenue rose to $106.7 million from $62.1 million the same quarter the year before and was ahead of expectations for $97.18 million from analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Their estimates ranged from 153,000 to 238,000.
The company is also part owned by cable operators Comcast Corp and Time Warner Cable Inc, as well as Google Inc.
Clearwire shares rose to $7.79 in extended trading after closing at $7.56 on Nasdaq.
(Reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by Andre Grenon and Richard Chang) Keywords: CLEARWIRE/ (sinead.carew@thomsonreuters.com +1 646 223 6186) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.