NEW YORK—Investors and analysts took their frustration out on Western Wireless Corp. following its disappointing first-quarter results sending the struggling rural carrier’s stock price down more than 40 percent in early Friday trading to an all-time low of $2.91 per share. The carrier’s stock was trading as high as $70 per share in early 2000 and was even in the $30 range at the beginning of this year.
After Western Wireless reported first-quarter results on Thursday, showing it actually lost customers during the quarter due to higher churn and lower gross customer additions, a number of analysts downgraded the carrier’s stock including JP Morgan, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Banc of America Securities.
