For quite a while Frontier Communications (FTR) has delivered nothing but bad news to its shareholders. The company has been slowly losing the subscribers in California, Texas, and Florida (CTF) it spent $10.54 billion acquiring, while it both cut its dividend and completed a reverse split of its stock.
What happened
Frontier did not deliver any new bad news in July. Instead it executed on some negative news it had already told shareholders about.
The company completed its 1-for-15 reverse split of the issued shares of common stock on July 10. That was part of a double whammy for investors, who received a lower dividend than the $0.105 per share it had been for the previous nine quarters.
The only good news for shareholders is that Frontier indexed the dividend to account for the reverse split in the upcoming Q3 payout. Shareholders will receive $0.60 per share common stock dividend, "as compared to the $0.04 per share common stock dividend declared and paid in Q1 of 2017," according to a press release.
Frontier has been dropping video subscribers along with much of the industry. Image source: Getty Images.
So what
The lack of good news and execution of bad news sent shares reeling once again. After closing June at $17.40, shares in Frontier closed July at $15.31, a 12% drop, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Despite that, Frontier CEO Daniel McCarthy remains relentlessly upbeat. He was realistic, but seemed convinced a turnaround had already begun, in his company's Q1 earnings release back in May:
During the quarter, we continued to realize our targeted efficiencies and synergies, and I am also pleased to have achieved our third consecutive quarter of improved FiOS gross additions in the California, Texas and Florida (CTF) markets. We are executing on a number of initiatives with the goal of enhancing customer experience, reducing churn, stabilizing revenues and generating cash flow.
Now what
The company needs to show that it can reverse subscriber losses. It also needs to show that it can generate enough cash to pay off its debt.
McCarthy has done a good job pushing off creditors, and he explains really well why the bad news keeps coming. But Frontier needs to deliver some actual good news, or the end may be near.
