|
BellSouth 1Q off mark
|
 |
April 19, 2001: 1:41 p.m. ET
Local phone company's earnings flat; reaffirms prior guidance for 2001 growth
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - BellSouth Corp., the No. 3 U.S. local telephone company, reported first-quarter earnings Thursday that missed Wall Street estimates, but the company confirmed its previous guidance for the rest of the year.
The Atlanta-based company reported earnings of $1.9 billion before one-time items, or 52 cents a share, compared with $1.9 billion, or 52 cents a share, in the year-earlier period.
Wall Street analysts expected the company to earn 54 cents a share, according to earnings tracker First Call.
Revenue rose to $7.2 billion from $6.5 billion a year earlier. BellSouth (BLS: down $0.61 to $41.99, Research, Estimates) reaffirmed previous guidance of 9-to-11 percent revenue growth and 7-to-9 percent earnings-per-share growth in 2001.
In its broadband, Internet and e-commerce business, BellSouth recorded revenue of $1.03 billion, up 27.5 percent from the year-ago period. The company added more than 88,000 digital subscriber line customers, primarily for business customers.
Wireless revenue, from the company's 40 percent stake in No. 2 U.S. wireless company Cingular, rose nearly 39 percent from the same quarter in 2000 to $1.3 billion.
In Latin America the company added 715,000 wireless customers, an annual growth rate of 52.7 percent, and had revenue of $773 million. 
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
