DumbLogic: July 2009

There's plenty of bad news in the earnings report....but if you actually look at the numbers, there is also good news and plenty of positive signs.

Just like with the economy at large, which was at the brink of a great abyss just a few months ago, the short-sighted, quarterly report driven trader types forget how bad a shape Sprint was in before Hesse took over.

The economy is turning around. So is Sprint. But both are very large ships that take a while to change direction.

Sprint has slowed subscriber loss. It has made the right moves in the prepaid market - both with Boost and the unlimited plan and the recently announced purchase of Virgin Mobile USA.

Customer Service is leaps and bounds ahead of where it used to be...and IMHO it is now better than every other national carrier's customer service.

Pricing - both prepaid and postpaid - is excellent and best-in-class. And it positions Sprint as a premium brand while keeping the value-seeking consumers in-house on Boost and now Virgin without damaging the primary brand's value.

If you exclude the iCrap and the fanboys that come with it, Sprint has always had the latest devices. Look at the Pre. It's also trying hard to fight the perception that it's second fiddle to #1 VZW - it recently released the Blackberry Tour on the SAME day as Verizon where in the past such launches have lagged Verizon's by a few months.

There's also the next generation build-out. Sprint actually has markets live, where Verizon and AT&T are still issuing press releases about it. T-Mobile doesn't have much of a 3G footprint, so let's not even talk about their next-gen plans.

Go visit a company owned AT&T store and then go visit a company owned Sprint store. Then tell me which one looks like it's humming with energy and more customers shopping and taking care of business. Then compare where you receive better, more attentive service from employees. These are "soft" and intangible indicators of a company's performance that you won't see in an earnings report....but these things matter.

Sprint was first to offer a Femtocell solution - it will give you the equipment for free if you ask nicely, and has an unlimited calling option. Verizon just started offering a similar device, charges $250 for it, and there is no unlimited calling option. AT&T doesn't have anything like it.

The coverage foot-print of Sprint is virtually identical to Verizon's. With roaming agreements, anywhere there is a CDMA tower, you can use your Sprint phone. It's 3G network is best-in-class.

What Sprint needs to do now is expand its customer base and reduce competitive background noise. The purchase of Virgin was a good step. Next, if it can find the cash, buy US Cellular or the remains of Alltel....or other smaller CDMA providers.

There are short-sighted oafs, the banker types, who can't see past their nose. Don't be one of these people.

These are the same people that give the President shit for a slow economy The economy is getting better, slowly but surely. The stimulus is working. Give it time.

These are the same people who gave Verizon crap for investing in the next generation fiber network....and now look at the company's earnings and compare it to AT&T which really doesn't have a next generation wireline network plan.

And of course it's the same crowd that's telling us that Sprint is doomed while ignoring the huge amount of progress made. OK, so maybe the turnaround is not 180 degrees yet. But it's getting there.

Don't be one of those people.

If you would have bought stock when I told you to, under $2, your money would have doubled now. If you buy stock NOW at $4, your money will double in the next year.