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Sprint, Ciena are top gainers in telecom
By Jeffry Bartash, MarketWatch
Last Update: 12:33 PM ET Nov 17, 2009
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Sprint Nextel Corp. and Ciena Corp. were the top performers in the telecommunications sector for a second day in mixed Tuesday action.
Sprint surged Monday after Credit Suisse upgraded the stock, and the momentum carried over. In recent trades, Sprint S was up almost 5% at $3.68. The stock gained nearly 13% on Monday.
In its report, Credit Suisse said Sprint is making good progress in its turnaround plan and argued that the market is ignoring its success in signing up prepaid customers. While prepaid customers are not as profitable as subscribers on annual contracts, Credit Suisse said Sprint could sign up enough of them to improve overall sales and profit. Read full story about Sprint's turnaround.
Elsewhere in the phone sector, AT&T Inc. T fell 0.3% while Verizon Communications Inc. VZ edged 0.2% higher. Clearwire Corp. CLWR shed 2.6%.
In the equipment group, Ciena CIEN climbed more than 5% to match Monday's increase. There was no major news.
Also, Motorola Inc. MOT increased 2% and Qualcomm Inc. QCOM was up 0.6%.
Notable decliners included Nokia Corp. NOK, down 1.5%, and Ericsson ERIC, which slipped 1%.
Among key industry indexes, the Dow Jones U.S. Fixed Line Telecommunications Total Stock Market Index slipped 0.1% to 935 points.
The index has ranged from a high of 1,029 points to a low of 747 points within the past 12 months.
The Dow Jones U.S. Telecommunications Equipment Total Stock Market Index rose 0.3% to 5,706 points.
The equipment index has ranged from a high of 5,724 points to a low of 3,092 points in the past year.
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