Analysts down on Sprint Nextel ahead of earnings

Prudential Equity Group downgraded Sprint Nextel Corp. ahead of the carrier’s quarterly earnings, and cut the company’s target stock price from $17 to $16, according to news reports.
Prudential cited concerns about Sprint Nextel’s operational challenges and loss of market share to its wireless rivals. The nation’s No. 3 carrier has been struggling to add postpaid customers and faced losses of its profitable iDEN postpaid users.
The company’s stock was down about 1 percent after the news to around $19.85 per share.
The downgrade is the most recent in a string of similar moves by investment companies during the past six months.
After consistently trading between $20 and $25 in 2005, Sprint Nextel’s stock took an initial plunge in the spring of 2006 and has since fluctuated in the $16 to $20 range.
Sprint Nextel is scheduled to release its quarterly earnings tomorrow.