Insiders' Blog

Shares of Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) are trading higher ahead of the company's fourth quarter earnings release, expected before the market opens on Wednesday, February 10, 2010. Shares are up 3.13% to $3.62 in the mid-afternoon session.

Shares of Sprint have seen a 100% rise through 2009, from a close of $1.83 on December 31, 2008 to a close of $3.66 on December 30, 2009. Through Q409, Sprint saw a moderate decline of 7%. Shares are currently trading down about 1% YTD.

The company is expected to report a loss of $0.19 for Q409, on revs of $8.03 billion.

Data from Bloomberg shows us that 8 analysts have a Buy rating on the stock, 23 have a Hold, and 4 recommend to Sell Sprint.

The analyst consensus price is $4.65. The 'Street high' price is $8.00, and the low is $2.50.

Sprint posted a slightly wider loss than expected on lower than estimated revs for Q309, and beat the Street on earnings for Q408.

News Through Q409
Sprint acquired iPCS at a rate of $831 million, or $24 per share, back in October. Sprint also assumed $405 million in debt in the transaction.

Sprint said that it is taking actions in Q409 to reduce internal and external labor costs by $350 million on an annualized basis.

The actions would include elminating 2,000 - 2,500 positions within the company.

Sprint also contributed to a $1.56 billion equity raise by Clearwire (NASDAQ: CLWR).

Sprint also reiterated its commitment to 4G technology from CEO Dan Hesse's comments and naming Matt Carter to President of 4G. Click here for more color on Carter.

Analysts Through Q409
November saw S&P put Sprint's credit rating on CreditWatch Negative list.

Credit Suisse upgraded S to Outperform from Neutral, and an increased price target of $6 up from $4. Click here for more color from Credit Suisse.

December had Wells Fargo resuming coverage with a Market Perform rating and valuation range from $3.30 - $4.20. Their estimate included the recent acquisition of Virgin Mobile, which was completed in November 2009.

Pali Research downgraded Sprint from Buy to Neutral. Click here for more color.

Citi upgraded to Buy from Hold, with a raised price target of $5.00 - $5.50.

Summary
Sprint is still a strong contender in the highly-competitive wireless community, and certainly at the forefront of the 4G revolution. Look for a decent report resulting from the labor cuts, which should play out nicely into FY10. Additionally, Sprint may make a move to carry Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone, which would certainly add to the company's top line and subscriber base.

Sprint will issue its Q409 results via press release at approximately 7:00 AM (EST) on February 10, 2010. Stay tuned to StreetInsider.com's Earnings section to see our analysis of the highly-anticipated quarterly results within seconds of their release.

NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) reported Tuesday that it topped Wall Street expectations with a 12 percent rise in quarterly earnings bolstered by cost-cutting efforts at the transatlantic exchange operator. Shares are up more than 5 percent on the news.

The New York Stock Exchange parent company reported fourth-quarter core earnings of $151 million, or 58 cents per share, 10 cents better that the analyst estimate of 48 cents per share. Including one-time items, NYSE Euronext earned $172 million, or 66 cents per share, compared to a loss of $5.06 in the same period last year.

Quarterly revenue for the company was down 6 percent to $640 million, slightly ahead of the market consensus of $638 million, while chief operating expenses fell 16 percent as the company cut its staff by 14 percent.

"Our fourth quarter and full-year results were solid, reflecting growing revenue and earnings power driven by our new businesses and our continuing efforts to harmonize our technology infrastructure and trading platforms," Duncan L. Niederauer, CEO, NYSE Euronext said in a statement.

Shares of NYSE Euronext are up 5.69 percent to $23.78 today.

Shares of Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) are trading higher ahead of the company's first quarter earnings release, expected after the market closes today. Shares are up 0.17% to $29.53 currently.

DIS gained about 18.8% through Q110, and 44% through 2009, hitting a 52-week low of $15.14 on March 10, 2009.

Data from Bloomberg shows that 15 analysts have a Buy rating, 15 have a Hold, and 4 suggest to Sell. The analyst price consensus is $33.55. The 'Street high' is $40, and the low is $20.

DIS is expected to post an EPS of $0.39 on revenues of $9.63 billion. For Q109, DIS reported an EPS of $0.41, and revs of $9.6 billion, both missing views.

NEWS THROUGH Q110:
In October, the company named Rich Ross to the position of Chairman of the Board.

Early November saw Disney get the O.K. to build a theme-park in China. Disney will have a 47% stake in the park, named the Shanghai Disney Park [Editor's Note: Not sure why they didn't name it 'Disney Shanghai']. The investment was announced to be $3.5 billion, and is set to open in 2014.

Disney's Q409 conference call highlighted the upcoming film "The Princess and the Frog," which premiered in December 2009. The films was one of the best grossing over the holiday season. Sources have the film raking in about $100 million [IMDB.com] as of January 29, 2010, and had a budget of $105 million [est'd.].

The last day of the quarter saw Marvel shareholders approve the company's $4.3 billion merger with Disney.

ANALYST RATING CHANGES:
In early October, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target to $35 while maintaining their Overweight rating.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch upgraded DIS from Underperform to Neutral, and raised their price target on the stock to $30 from $22.

Caris & Co. raised their price target to $35 from $30, and maintained their Above Average rating on DIS.

November had Deutsche Bank raise their price target on Disney to $39 from $31 while maintaining their Buy rating.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
Media outlets are having a fun earnings season so far, after weathering a rough tail-end 2008 through most of 2009. News Corp. posted a Q210 earnings report that beat estimates on the top and bottom, and Time Warner also posted a strong Q409 report. Families may have been expanding a little more on entertainment through the last quarter, as can bee seen by the impressive results at the box office and through the 2009 holiday sales season. Look for Disney to surprise investors again this quarter.

Disney will issue its Q110 results via press release at approximately 4:00 PM (EST) on February 9, 2010. Stay tuned to StreetInsider.com's Earnings section to see our analysis of the highly-anticipated quarterly results within seconds of their release.

S&P lowered its rating outlook on Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) and Citigroup (NYSE: C) today from Stable to Negative, citing uncertainty about the U.S. government's willingness to provide additional extraordinary support in a way that will benefit debt holders.

Analyst John Bartko stated, "We believe markets are beginning to stabilize and the U.S. government is seeking ways to reduce the potential for moral hazard and systemic risk associated with large financial institutions."

Bartko notes that one such effort to reduce these risks is evident in the House bill (H.R. 4173) passed in mid-December that would specifically preclude the government from company-specific bailouts, and would allow it to use public funds to assist in winding down an ailing financial institution, but only if that entity's debt holders incurred losses.

The proposed Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee further underscores the extent to which the political climate affects bondholders of these companies adversely, Bartko explains.

On Bank of America, S&P affirmed all ratings, including its 'A/A-1' counterparty credit rating and ratings on all related entities.

On Citigroup, S&P affirmed its counterparty credit and debt ratings on Citi (A/A-1). The firm raised the ratings on its hybrid capital issues to 'BB-' from 'B+', excluding its preferred stock, which was affirmed at 'C'.

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Airlines stocks are rallying sharply today on the back of better-than-expected January traffic results from one of the larger US operators, UAL Corp. (Nasdaq: UAUA). Traders may be buying other airline stocks with hopes that these too will also report solid monthly figures.

Also affecting traders decisions today, JPMorgan issued a note saying that it was very close to upgrading UAL, AMR and US Airways following the UAL traffic results.

Surprisingly, investors in the airline sector are shrugging off the potential impact of hundreds of flight delays across the country due to a winter storm.

Around the sector:

• UAL Corp. - up 13.9% to $14.88
  
• Delta Air (NYSE: DAL) - up 8.4% to $12.19
  
• Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) - up 3.3% to $11.62
  
• AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR) - up 9% to $7.98
  
• Continental Air (NYSE: CAL) - up 7% to $18.60
  
• JetBlue (Nasdaq: JBLU) - up 6.6% To $5.04
  
• US Airways (NYSE: LCC) - up 7.4% to $6.37