Bold Breakthroughs
Tech Winners & Losers: Sprint
The Associated Press
11/24/08 - 04:17 PM EST
SEATTLE -- Shares of telecommunications companies soared Monday as the broader market rallied following the government's plan to bail out Citigroup (C Quote).
The government announced on Sunday it would invest $20 billion in Citigroup and guarantee $306 billion in risky assets.
"Riskier (telecom) names have gotten beaten down more so than most of the other telecom names over the last several months," said Stifel Nicolaus analyst Christopher King in an interview. "Today, people are presumably more comfortable with risk."
All the major stock indices jumped more than 3% Monday afternoon. King said he would expect riskier names like Sprint (S Quote), Qwest (Q Quote) and Clearwire (CLWR Quote) to outperform the market.
Shares of Overland Park, Kan.-based Sprint rocketed up 41 cents, 23.98%, to $2.12. The stock is still down 86% for the year to date.
Qwest stock climbed 29 cents, or 12.61%, to $2.59, and Clearwire Corp.'s shares added 72 cents, or 17.5%, to $4.84.
The three largest telecom providers by market capitalization also saw shares climb Monday. AT&T (T Quote) jumped $1.89, or 7.5%, to $27.08. U.S.-traded shares of Vodafone Group (VOD Quote) added $1.53, or 8.9%, to $18.67 and Verizon Communications (VZ Quote) shares rose $1.28, or 4.5%, to $29.75.