Leap wows with Q4 customer adds

Leap Wireless International Inc. enjoyed a busy holiday season, topping its prior view by adding 152,000 net customers during the fourth quarter of 2007.
The San Diego-based carrier ended the year with 2.86 million customers and saw a quarterly churn rate of 4.2%. Leap, which operates the Cricket and Jump Mobile services, in December said it expected customer additions of between 70,000 and 130,000 and a churn rate of 4.5% to 4.7%.
Shares of Leap soared following the news, gaining $6.92, or 18%, to $44.76 per share.
“We are pleased with the company’s end-of-year performance in adding new customers and reducing churn,” said CEO Doug Hutcheson. “Strong customer uptake during the conclusion of the holiday buying season helped deliver results ahead of our expectations on these two metrics, demonstrating the strength of our business as we head into the new year.”
Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services last week affirmed its ratings on Leap, including a B- corporate credit rating, and removed the company from CreditWatch. The Ratings Service said Leap’s outlook is “stable.”