(Continuing from: "Is Sprint Nextel (S) Stock a Buy, Sell or Short – Here are the Numbers")

Sprint Stock Analysis – Price Ratios:

When you look at the table below showing Sprint's ratio variables, the thing that jumps out at you is the last column, titled P/E (Price divided by Equity). It has N/A all over it because Sprint has had a negative P/E ratio for five consecutive years.

[related2][/related2]

When looking at the rest of the table, the only encouraging sign is the P/B (Price divided by Book) ratio that is slowly ticking up and is comparable to a lot of the firms in the telecom industry. The book value keeps declining, and it doesn't help the net book value that Sprint has such large intangible assets in its books. 

Price Ratios – Sprint (S)      

Year

Book Value

Growth

Net Book Value

Growth

P/B

P/E

2012 Q4

$7087

-16.61%

-$15283

-9.31%

2.43

N/A

2012 Q3

$8499

-7.90%

-$13981

-5.97%

1.98

N/A

2012 Q2

$9227

-12.87%

-$13193

-11.71%

1.79

N/A

2012 Q1

$10590

-7.11%

-$11810

-7.07%

0.92

N/A

2011

$11400

-26.97%

-$11030

-55.57%

0.63

N/A

2010

$15610

-13.76%

-$7090

-32.28%

0.94

N/A

2009

$18100

-10.05%

-$5360

-28.86%

0.56

N/A

Note: All values in the tables are in Millions of USD (except for the P/B and P/E items)

Conclusion (Is Sprint Stock a Buy, Sell or Hold?):

A good look at Sprint's price ratio combined with its fundamentals and technical analysis reveal that it is best to stay away from the stock as it does not present much value to investors. Some might consider the stock a good sell or “short” at this time and Options traders may want to place a few puts on the stock.

(By: Vinayak M. – MarketConsensus News Contributor)

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