Shares of Level 3 Communications
The company, which operates a massive national fiber-optic network and Web content-delivery service, reported an adjusted net loss of $1.02 per share, in line with Wall Street estimates. Revenue came in about $60 million light, however.
Investors are probably right to be cautious. Cash is flowing, but not as bountifully as I'd like:
Metric |
Q4 2011 |
Q4 2010 |
YOY Growth |
---|---|---|---|
Revenue (mil.) | $1,579 | $904 | 74.7% |
Free cash flow (mil.) | $224 | $181 | 23.8% |
FCF as a % of revenue | 14.2% | 20.0% | (5.8 points) |
Cash / debt (mil.) | $918 / $8,450 | $616 / $6,448 | 29.1% |
Source: Level 3 earnings press release.
None of these metrics inspires me. Quite the contrary -- I'd much rather see free cash flow (FCF) growing faster than revenue and accounting for a greater portion of sales. And while I can understand the use of leverage to acquire Global Crossing, it's somewhat troubling to see net debt rise 29% when Level 3 has spent years working off the leverage on its balance sheet.
Bulls will nevertheless point out that debt is the cost of scale, and acquiring Global Crossing gives the company salable fiber in 45 countries at a time when our collective appetite for fat data files -- (cough) video (cough) -- is rising. Level 3 is investing to meet demand.
The question is whether management's bets will yield a payoff above cost. It's been a struggle so far, but returns on capital and gross margin are rising, and that's despite peer Akamai Technologies
Do you agree? Disagree? Either way, it makes sense to study how the Internet has changed computing. The Motley Fool recently dug into this trend in a video research brief, "Two Words Bill Gates Doesn't Want You to Hear." The report is free, but only for a limited time, so click here to watch now.
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