Anterix (ATEX) reports fourth-quarter losses, delays revenue estimates

Anterix (ATEX) came out with a quarterly loss of $0.51 per share versus the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of $0.24. That compares to a loss of $0.40 per share a year earlier. These numbers were adjusted for one-time items.

This quarterly report showed an earnings surprise of -112.50%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this wireless communications company would post a loss of $0.61 per share when it actually produced a loss of $0.55, delivering a surprise of 9.84%.

The company has topped consensus earnings per share estimates three times over the last four quarters.

Anterix, which belongs to the Zacks Communication – Infrastructure industry, posted revenues of $1.26 million for the quarter ended March 2024, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 17.11%. This compares to revenues of $0.61 million in the same period last year. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates just once over the last four quarters.

The sustainability of the immediate share price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management’s commentary on the earnings call.

Anterix shares have lost about 6.2% since the beginning of the year compared to the S&P 500’s gain of 14.7%.

What’s next for Anterix?

While Anterix has underperformed the market this year, the question that comes to investors’ minds is: what’s next for the stock?

There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable metric that can help investors address this issue is the company’s earnings outlook. This includes not only the current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarters, but also how those expectations have changed recently.

Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions.

Ahead of the earnings release, the estimate revision trend for Anterix is mixed. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company’s upcoming earnings report, the current status is consistent with a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) for the stock. As such, the stock is expected to perform in line with the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

It will be interesting to see how estimates for the next quarters and the current fiscal year change in the coming days. The current consensus EPS estimate is -$0.50 on revenue of $2.04M for the coming quarter and -$2.01 on revenue of $11.14M for the current fiscal year.

Investors should be aware that the outlook for the industry may also have a significant impact on share prices. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Communications – Infrastructure is currently in the top 40% of the 250+ Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.

Another company from the same industry, DZS Inc. (DZSI), has not yet reported results for the quarter ended March 2024.

The company is expected to report quarterly loss of $0.03 per share in its upcoming report, representing a year-over-year change of 50%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has not changed over the last 30 days.

DZS Inc. revenues are expected to be will amount to USD 40.2 million, which means a decrease of 55.7% compared to the same quarter last year.

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