Can Sprint Grab Market Share With 4G Tablet?
NEW YORK (
) --
Sprint
(S) - Get Report
competes with
Verizon
(VZ) - Get Report
and
AT&T
(T) - Get Report
in the mobile business. Trefis estimates the mobile Internet constitutes about 40% of Sprint's stock, just under the 43% estimated contribution from mobile phones and plans.
Trefis'
price estimate of $4.35 for Sprint's stock
is roughly in line with its market value.
Sprint recently announced a 2011 target for the launch of tablets capable of connecting to its 4G high-speed wireless network, a move that could strengthen Sprint's product offering and help maintain its 4G lead as competitors ramp up their own 4G launches.
Tablets' Emerging Popularity
Tablets have been extremely popular among consumers lately and can certainly be labeled one of the hottest new gadgets in the market. According to
Gartner
, worldwide tablet sales could reach 19.5 million units in 2010.
The growth in 2011 and beyond is likely to be strong and Gartner anticipates that global tablet sales could surpass 208 million by 2014. Additionally,
eMarketer
estimates that the U.S. will continue to command a majority share of global tablet sales until 2012.
Can 4G Tablet Trigger a Subscriber Turnaround?
While the majority of tablet growth is likely to come from sales of
Apple's
(AAPL) - Get Report
iPad, we anticipate that its share will decline over time. Clearly, tablets are gaining major adoption and a successful 4G tablet from Sprint could leverage this trend and drive improvements in subscriber revenue. If Sprint's new 4G device offerings were to spark a rebound in Sprint's CDMA subscriber share of the U.S. wireless market to 2007 levels by the end of our forecast period, our price estimate could see about 12% upside.
Modify the chart to see how a faster rebound in CDMA subscribers can affect Sprint's stock value.
It is necessary to note that a successful tablet launch for Sprint is not devoid of risks that could moderate any upside. A major risk for Sprint stems from intensifying competition in the tablet market that could threaten potential market share gains. Verizon and
T-Mobile
are planning to launch their own 4G devices while AT&T is likely to join the bandwagon somewhere in mid-2011.
See Trefis' full analysis of Sprint
.
This commentary comes from an independent investor or market observer as part of TheStreet guest contributor program. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of TheStreet or its management.