David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital has a large stake in Sprint Nextel Corporation S, but with Verizon VZ getting the iPhone, and AT&T T still having the iPhone, will we be able to hear Einhorn now?
Sprint is generally seen as the third major cell phone carrier between Verizon and AT&T, with others like T-Mobile DT, MetroPCS PCS and others bringing up the rear. Sprint is the only carrier with an all inclusive plan, $70 for talk, text and mobile data plans, something that no other wireless carrier has.
It was the first to have a 4G phone, the HTC EVO, which consumers absolutely love, so why does Wall Street hate it? The company has had a lot of customer churn, a bad reputation, and the phone offerings it has for customers aren't as attractive as the other two major carriers.
The company also has a mountain of debt that is currently weighing on the company, and if the company can ever get its act together in terms of paying down debt, as well as its situation with Clearwire CLWR, then Einhorn could have a homerun on his hands.
In an interview last month on CNBC, Einhorn said, “Sprint, along with its partner Clearwire, has much much more spectrum than most of the other competing companies."
Einhorn clearly sees value in the spectrum holdings, as does Auriga Securities analyst Chandan Sarkar. Sarkar says that the holdings are worth $9 billion, which could make the company's shares worth $6-$8.
The company, led by CEO Dan Hesse is slowly, but surely starting to move in the right direction, at least in terms of offerings. It will be the exclusive provider of Research In Motion's RIMM tablet, the Playbook, which has many consumers excited about it.
Earlier in the week, the company announced it would raise smart phone user fees by $10 per month for data plans, since these users consume 10 times more data than customers with simpler handsets. This should help Sprint's margins.
Disclosure: no position in names mentioned
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