By Anjali Athavaley
(Reuters) - Sprint Corp's shares slid 10 percent on Wednesday after the No. 4 U.S. wireless carrier did not give specifics on deals it would pursue, even as its quarterly loss narrowed and it recorded strong subscriber growth.
Investors had high hopes for specific details on merger discussions on the company's post-earnings conference call from Sprint Chairman Masayoshi Son, who is chief executive of Japan's SoftBank Group Corp, Sprint's controlling shareholder.
Instead, he introduced a new tool that Sprint was launching for customers to extend their network coverage and said the company was generally interested in exploring opportunities for a deal.
"If there are opportunities, we would be very much open-minded," he said. "We are self-sufficient, so we are not in a rush."
Shares were down 10 percent in midday trading to $8.17. Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzche said in a research note that in addition to the tone of the conference call, the company's lack of a tangible cost-cutting goal for 2017, coupled with no improved free cash flow forecast, weighed on the stock.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission barred merger talks among telecommunications companies for over a year as it conducted an auction of airwaves from broadcasters for wireless use. Since the FCC-mandated quiet period concluded in late April, companies can now have discussions.
Reuters reported in February that SoftBank was positioning itself for deal talks with T-Mobile US Inc top shareholder, Deutsche Telekom AG, once the airwaves auction ended.
On a call with reporters on Wednesday, Sprint Chief Executive Marcelo Claure reiterated that the company was open to buying, selling or merging with another player. He also said that at this point in time, Sprint did not intend to separately sell its spectrum because its holdings give it a competitive advantage.
Sprint's net loss slimmed to $283 million, or 7 cents per share, in the fourth quarter ended March 31, from $554 million, or 14 cents per share, a year earlier.
Net operating revenue rose 5.8 percent to $8.54 billion.
Analysts, on average, expected a net loss of 4 cents per share on revenue of $7.93 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Sprint added 42,000 postpaid phone subscribers, or those who pay a monthly bill, in the quarter. Analysts said the numbers were relatively strong.
Prepaid subscribers rose 180,000 on a net basis in what Sprint said was a return to growth for the first time in two years.
(Additional reporting by Laharee Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Nick Zieminski)
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