Out Fox The $treet

Two major unions go on strike against Verizon disrupting new service installations. At this point, the strike is mainly isolated to the wireline business insulating the investment impact. Verizon will continue trading weak as the strike and the Yahoo bid impact shareholder sentiment. Due to the market focusing on the Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO ) bid, Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ ) isn't getting much attention regarding the union strike. The Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers went on strike on Wednesday and even had Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders attend a rally. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha.  Disclosure: No position mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Summary Sprint reports dismal quarter with declining postpaid phone users and ABPU. The company continues burning cash at an alarming rate causing several analysts to question its cash position. Investors should continue avoiding the stock until trends improve. Another quarter and Sprint (NYSE: S ) still isn't making any real progress toward growing postpaid phone subscribers. The wireless provider has aggressively spent on promotions, but it has made a huge mistake in thinking the high-quality 4G, smartphone customer would switch networks for a pricing gimmick. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Summary Sprint insiders make large stock purchases at prices around $5. The company hasn't resolved liquidity issues with a likely asset sale required. The pricing war and liquidity situation haven't improved suggesting investors don't follow the insiders in purchasing the stock at $5. In the last couple of weeks, it was disclosed that Sprint (NYSE: S ) CEO Marcelo Clarue and CFO Joseph Euteneuer purchased shares of the struggling wireless provider. The amounts were impressive with the CEO buying five million shares of the company's stock for nearly $25 million and the CFO buying roughly $100,000 worth of stock. Though multiple insider purchases of that magnitude are typically a bullish signal, one major issue needs resolution before investors should blindly follow the executives into the stock. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more...

With rumors and speculation swirling around a potential merger between Sprint ( NYSE: S     ) and T-Mobile US ( NYSE: TMUS     ) , a big question is whether such a move would reward shareholders. In theory, consolidation in the wireless space should eliminate the aggressive pricing in the sector and benefit the remaining companies. Based on the recent consolidation to three major legacy airlines, the airline sector is stronger and more profitable but not all of the players are performing the same. In addition, the consolidation in the wireless sector would leave AT&T ( NYSE: T     ) and Verizon ( NYSE: VZ     ) as dominant players with the new Sprint a very distant third. Read the full article here . Disclosure: Long T. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Last week Verizon ( VZ ) and Vodafone ( VOD ) reached the historic deal for Verizon to obtain sole ownership of the much coveted Verizon Wireless asset. Regardless of your position on the transaction, the stock action of the two stocks since the leak of the purchase discussions at the end of April tells the story. In the couple of years prior to the news of the talks heating up, Verizon had easily outperformed Vodafone. Remember that Verizon owns 55% of Verizon Wireless while Vodafone owns the rest. Partially due to the focus on the better performing US market, Verizon had easily outperformed Vodafone over that time period. This fact was greatly enhanced due to Vodafone being focused on Europe and emerging markets outside of the Verizon Wireless ownership. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long VOD. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Sprint Nextel Corp (S) continues an impressive comeback that has seen the number three domestic wireless provider reclaim its position as a force in the domestic markets. Unfortunately though, news came out today that fourth place provider T-Mobile (DTEGY.PK) just scored a $2.4B cash deal to leaseback cell towers, just weeks after T-Mobile hired a heavy hitting CEO to reinvigorate subscriber growth with a target on Sprint. As Stone Fox Capital wrote back at the end of August, Sprint was starting to thrive by being the leading wireless provider with an unlimited data plan and the non-duopoly player that has the iPhone. Do these announcements change the dynamics in the sector? The last thing Sprint needs is a competitor attacking their base just as the company is getting its act together. Competition remains one of the biggest drawbacks to investing in the wireless service provider sector. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review ...

Interesting comments from a Reuters report that came out after hours Friday. According to the report, NII Holdings (NIHD) already has 10 cities in Mexico with mobile broadband with the nationwide launch in September. According to the Q112 conference call transcript, the CEO made it clear that NIHD would launch 3G services in select Mexico markets in late Q3. This news makes it sound like select cities have already launched. Per the Seeking Alpha Conference Call Transcript: We remain on track with our 3G deployments in Chile, Mexico and Brazil. We continue to work toward our goals of making 3G services available in Chile by midyear and in select markets in Mexico and Brazil by late third quarter and end of the year, respectively. Over the past several months, we have implemented a number of changes in how we manage the logistics and buildout of our 3G networks that are helping to keep our 3G deployments on track with our goals. This news would be extremely positive for t...

C&J Energy Services (CJES) remains one of the cheapest companies yet after the close the company announced an accretive $272M deal for a complementary wireline service provider named Casedhole Holdings. Not only is the deal expected to be immediately accretive, but the deal also provides exposure to new oily basins and large E&P operators not previously used by CJES. Per the press release,  Casedhole is a leading multi-regional, independent provider of cased-hole wireline and other complementary services for energy producers in the United States.  With 12 district locations, Casedhole provides premium services in the most complex and demanding operating environments focusing on oily and liquids-rich basins. After hours the stock jumped 1-3%, but it still remains down for the day. When the sector turns, this would be the top pick. The company remains a cash flow machine with top of the line margins. The $22OM credit line being tapped to pay for this deal will ...