Rogers has announced their second quarter results, and investors weren’t exactly happy with them. Profits were up a mere 3% compared to last year, totaling $2.891 billion. Net income hit $374 million, up 24% from 2008. Wireless in particular saw 315,000 device activations, mostly their new iPhone 3GS and Android exclusives, but BlackBerry took a chunk as well; Rogers had 148,000 net additional subscribers all told, a 56% increase from last year. Wireless data revenue saw a decent 40% jump in the last six months, accounting for 20% of total network revenue. Doesn’t sound that bad, right? Well, many analysts downgraded Rogers stock after the report. Here’s a quick snap shot of their reactions to the Q2 results.
“In our view, RCI’s lower growth profile no longer justifies as much of a valuation premium and we have chosen levels that reflect only a modest premium to its lower-growth telco peers.” – Jonathan Allen, RBC
“Given the uncertain economic times ahead, we believe Rogers’ operating results will be less predictable in the near term.” – UBS
“They’re doing a great job of adding customers, but you can tell that their current customers are obviously feeling the pinch … People are becoming a bit more frugal.” – Troy Crandall, MacDougall, MacDougall & MacTier.
In addition to the results, Rogers announced a partnership with regional service provider, MTS Allstream, for an HSPA network sharing deal in Manitoba. Essentially, Rogers will build up a 3G network in their neck of the woods, and MTS customers will roam exclusively on Rogers when outside the province. On top of that, Rogers is offering MTS Allstream “the opportunity to launch a national wireless business offering under the Allstream brand through a competitive wholesale arrangement.” Maybe we’ll see them bust out of the prairies in the future under such an agreement…
The recently-announced HSPA+ network holds a lot of promise, but it will take some time before we start seeing 21 Mbps goodness outside of Toronto. Hit up our financial page for a closer look at Rogers’ stock performance, or peruse the Q2 ’09 results for yourself.
[via Rogers]