(By Balachander) MetroPCS Communications Inc. (NYSE: PCS) posted a decline in quarterly earnings, in line with market expectations, amid revenue growth and higher expenses.
Earnings were $31.67 million or $0.09 per share for the fourth quarter, compared with $91.27 million or $0.25 per share in the comparable period of last year.
On a non-GAAP basis, the company said earnings would have been $39 million or $0.11 per share, matching market expectations.
Revenue rose 4 percent to $1.3 billion, versus Wall Street projections of a growth of 3.20 percent.
Consolidated net subscriber losses were 93 thousand for the fourth quarter.
Total operating expenses increased 14 percent to $1.16 billion.
MetroPCS, which announced a proposed business combination with T-Mobile USA last year, ended the full-year with around 8.9 million subscribers.
Quarterly churn fell 10 basis points to 3.6 percent from the same period last year. Cost per user (CPU) was $21.91, up 10 percent due to a rise in retention expense for existing customers, higher costs related to 4G LTE network upgrade, among other reasons.
Adjusted EBITDA margin shrank 400 basis points to 27.9 percent for the three month period.
PCS shares, which have been trading in the 52-week range of $5.53 to $14.51, ended at $9.76 on Monday.