Subject: [NEXTEL-1] NXTL Shares Fall- Wall Street Sees Through Timmy's Hype- And Rewards Him Appropriately-

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 17 Jul 2003 16:29:34 -0400

NXTL Shares Fall- Wall Street Sees Through Timmy's Hype- And Rewards Him
Appropriately-
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Reuters
Nextel shares weaken despite strong report
Thursday July 17, 12:04 pm ET
By Yukari Iwatani

CHICAGO, July 17 (Reuters) -
Shares of Nextel Communications Inc.
(NasdaqNM:NXTL - News) fell
nearly 2 percent on Thursday despite
a better-than-expected earnings report
as investors took profits and disappointing
results from mobile phone maker Nokia
clouded the outlook for the
telephone industry.

The stock of the fifth-largest U.S.
wireless phone company was at
$19.68, off 35 cents, or 1.75
percent, in late-morning trading on
Nasdaq after earlier climbing to a
more than two-year high of $20.53.
Nextel was the second-most-heavily
traded stock on Nasdaq.

"I think it's just a matter of
expectations being built in the stock
price ... investors are expecting this
company to perform very well," said
Michael Hodel, an analyst with
Morningstar. "Nokia's numbers were
a little disappointing and that's
probably hurt as well."

Nokia (NOK1V.HE), the world's largest mobile phone maker, on Thursday said a soft
dollar and consumers' reluctance to buy fancy phones will hit sales and earnings
in the third quarter.Nextel's stock had risen 10 percent since the beginning of
July in anticipation of strong second-quarter results. Its report, released on
Wednesday evening, beat even those expectations.

"These guys are on their game. It's amazing actually," said Craig Mallitz,
wireless analyst with Legg Mason.
Analysts said Nextel's results boded well for other wireless operators, who will
report their quarterly earnings in coming weeks.
The industry has been struggling from declining customer growth after years of
frenetic gains. Wireless operators have been slashing costs and working harder to
retain customers.

They have also been helped by stable service prices following a couple of quarters
of stiff price competition.
Reston, Virginia-based Nextel posted second-quarter earnings and revenue that
readily beat expectations as it added a record number of customers and lowered its
customer turnover rate to a five-year low.

The company, which was the first of the Big Six wireless operators to report
results, attributed its strong performance to improved customer care, more
accurate billing and an increase in government customers, who tend to be more
loyal.
"It's further evidence that Nextel's customer base in general is unique and unlike
any other customer base out there," said independent telecommunications analyst
Kevin Roe. "These are loyal customers."

Nextel has been bucking a slowdown in the wireless industry thanks to the
popularity of its unique Direct Connect feature, a service also known as
push-to-talk that is similar to a walkie-talkie. It is favored by technicians,
construction crews and public safety officials.

While it is expected to face competition later this year as rivals Verizon
Wireless (NYSE:VZ - News; London:VOD.L - News) and Sprint PCS (NYSE:PCS - News)
launch similar walkie-talkie features, analysts said the second-quarter results
give them more confidence the company will be able to hold its own.

"Competitive push-to-talk (products) are going to have a hard time switching
customers out of Nextel except on price," said Tim Ghriskey, president of Ghriskey
Capital Partners. Ghriskey said he was considering purchasing Nextel shares again
after having sold his holding to take profits.

http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/030717/telecoms_nextel_1.html

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