Shares of Lumen Technologies Inc.
LUMN,
were tumbling 12% in after-hours trading Tuesday after the telecommunications company beat expectations with its latest earnings and revenue figures but came up short with its outlook for free-cash flow. The company reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $3.07 billion, or $3.08 a share, whereas it generated net income of $508 million, or 50 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. The loss for the latest quarter included a $3.27 billion non-cash impairment charge. When excluding special items, Lumen saw adjusted earnings per share fall to 43 cents from 51 cents, while analysts were modeling 19 cents a share. Revenue fell to $3.80 billion from $4.02 billion, while analysts had been modeling $3.78 billion. For 2023, the company expects adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (Ebitda) of $4.6 billion to $4.8 billion, along with free-cash flow of breakeven to $200 million. Analysts tracked by FactSet were modeling $5.18 billion in adjusted Ebitda and $365 million in free-cash flow.
