Level 3 Communications Inc.’s fourth-quarter loss narrowed as revenue dipped but costs also fell and a tax benefit boosted the network-services Broomfield company’s bottom line.
Shares fell 2 percent to $1.26 in recent premarket trading as revenue fell short of analyst expectations.
Level 3 has posted two straight years of quarterly losses as many businesses put on hold their plans to spend on Internet-networking services, though there have been recent signs of business spending on tech picking up. Ratings agencies and analysts have voiced concerns over the company’s heavy debt load.
Long-term debt as of Dec. 31 was $6.27 billion, up 8.9 percent from a year earlier.
Level 3 reported a loss of $52 million, or 3 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $182 million, or 11 cents a share. The latest result included a 6-cent-a-share tax benefit. Revenue dipped 0.3 percent to $921 million.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters most recently forecast a loss of 10 cents a share on $920 million in revenue.
Communications gross margin, which excludes the company’s small coal-mining business, widened to 61.1 percent from 60.2 percent. Overall costs dropped 4.3 percent.
Revenue in the core network segment, the largest top-line contributor, increased about 2 percent.
