Global Crossing beats estimates

(Telephony) Global Crossing soundly beat Wall Street estimates for the first quarter, reporting a loss per share of 76 cents versus the average analyst projection of an 88-cent loss. Net loss applicable to common shareholders was $675.4 million on revenues of $1.08 billion.

The loss was narrower than many expected because of lower interest expenses resulting from a Q1 restructuring of portions of Global Crossing’s debt, according to Frank Governali of Goldman Sachs.

Despite bettering analyst estimates, the loss this quarter widened significantly from the previous year’s loss of $348.0 million, or 45 cents per share.

Global Crossing attributed the increased loss to the transformation it is undergoing from carriers’ carrier to value-added service provider--a process that going well, according to Tom Casey, CEO of Global Crossing.

“We exceeded the street consensus in the area that we have identified as most critical to our successful transition as a company, and that is commercial services,” he said. “Commercial-service revenue for the quarter was the highest ever, with the largest sequential dollar and percentage growth rates.” Revenue for the unit was up 7% sequentially to $422.0 million during the quarter.

Going forward, Casey said he is comfortable with analyst expectations for Q2 and the remainder of the year. He also reiterated the company’s capital-spending budget.

Some of that money, however, has been spent accumulating capacity by buying assets instead of building. The slowdown in the economy allowed the company to act opportunistically, Casey said.

“We obtained capacity or facilities in local markets [and] long-haul markets that we would have obtained eventually anyway, and we did it in an environment where people who were selling it were very motivated to sell.”