Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Zeev's Turnips - No Politics -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LTK007 who wrote (59486)	5/1/2002 1:48:22 AM
From: Softechie	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 99280

Qwest Conference Call -2: Reiterates Lowered '02 Targets By: Johnathan Burns, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Qwest Communications International Inc. (Q) Chief Executive Joseph Nacchio said Tuesday the company's share of the corporate telecommunications service market is increasing while the decline in its loADVERTISEMENT cal access lines appears to have flattened. In a conference call following the release of first-quarter results, Nacchio reiterated lowered full-year guidance that calls for revenue of $18 billion to $ 18.4 billion, adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $6.4 billion to $6.6 billion and capital expenditures in the range of $3.1 billion to $3.3 billion. Before market open, Qwest reported a net loss of $698 million, or 42 cents a share, compared with a loss of $46 million, or 3 cents a share a year ago. Excluding a writedown of $462 million on the carrying value of its stake in KPNQwest NV (KQIP), as well as a restructuring charge of $74 million related to the company, Qwest lost $162 million, or 10 cents a share. The company will take an additional, "significant" writedown related to its KPNQwest stake in the second quarter, Nacchio said Analysts had expected the company to lose 4 cents a share, according to a Thomson Financial/First Call survey. Revenue dropped 14% to $4.47 billion from $5.05 billion, mainly on the absence of optical capacity asset sales and some Internet equipment sales. Qwest's sales continued to hampered by a decline in local access lines as customers canceled second lines to their homes and the like. Local-services revenue fell 3% while long-distance, data and Internet revenue dropped 39%. Nacchio did say there were some encouraging signs in the quarter. He said the rate of access line declines appears to have flattened. In addition, he said the company is gaining market share in the corporate communications sector, mainly the domain of WorldCom Inc. (NasdaqNM: WCOM - news) 's WorldCom Group ( WCOM) and AT&T Corp. (NYSE: T - news) (T). "There are some positive signs," he said. "Our global accounts division continues to increase penetration." Nacchio also gave a detailed account of how the company intends to reach its revenue guidance, noting that first-quarter results - if they held for the rest of the year - would mean the company would come up $750 million short. He said the directory phone-book publishing business would kick in $250 million, with growing data and IP sales contributing at least $400 million. The remaining revenue would come from a combination of long-distance reentrance and other sources. "There's no magic here, just very tight management," Nacchio said. "It's not a layup, but it's also not rocket science." Meanwhile, Nacchio said the company's filings for re-entry into the long- distance market remains on track. Chief Financial Officer Robin Szeliga said the company expects to see a turnaround of its fortunes in the second quarter, with gradual growth coming in the second half of the year. But Qwest will begin selling assets to lighten its sizable debt load. Nacchio said the company has already received several unsolicited bids for its directory phone-book publishing business. "We are going to de-leverage as soon as possible," he said. "I think the benefit of where we stand in assets is that the assets we have, we have multiple interested parties." Nacchio noted that he had previously said the company plans to sell $2 billion in assets, while the total value of its non-core assets like publishing, wireless spectrum and other holdings are worth an estimated $10 billion. -Johnathan Burns; Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2020; johnathan.burns@ dowjones.com (This story was originally published by Dow Jones Newswires) Copyright (c) 2002 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved