T-Mobile (TMUS) Shares Down Despite Strong Quarterly Performance

T-Mobile U.S. Inc. (NASDAQ:TMUS) history dates back to 1994 when VoiceStream Wireless was established as a subsidiary of Western Wireless Corp. In 2001, German-based Deutsche Telekom acquired VoiceStream and renamed it T-Mobile. The company has come a long way since then. It became the second biggest mobile network in the U.S. last year following its merger with Sprint Corp.

The company on Thursday reported its fourth-quarter earnings and revenue above expectations. It posted earnings of $750 million, or 60 cents per share for the three months ended Dec. 31, beating the consensus forecast of 51 cents per share. Revenue came in at $20.3 billion, as compared to $11.9 billion in the comparable period of 2019. Analysts on average were looking for revenue of $19.9 billion.

T-Mobile reported 1.6 million postpaid net additions for the fourth quarter, the best in the industry, according to the company. Net additions for the full year reached 5.6 million, the highest so far in the history of the company.

TMUS also mentioned that its extended range 5G now covers 280 million people in nearly 1.6 million sq miles, far more than what rival Verizon and AT&T are covering at the moment.

CEO Mike Sievert said in a statement, “These results show that we’re pulling way ahead of the pack on what matters – overall 5G network performance – and executing to stay ahead.”

Looking forward, T-Mobile projected its postpaid net additions in the range of 4 million to 4.7 million for 2021.

T-Mobile (TMUS) shares fell more than 3 percent in the mid-day trading Friday despite strong quarterly performance. The apparent reason behind the latest drop seems to be growing costs related to the Sprint merger. Nevertheless, TMUS stock has advanced more than 55 percent during the past 12 months.