CenturyLink's Qwest Acquisition Costs, Q3 Outlook Take Toll on Q2 Results

CenturyLink (NYS: CTL) may have become the third-largest ILEC when it completed its purchase of the former Qwest Communications in April, but that move is marked by growing pains as it reported a decline in quarterly profit and a lower than expected Q3 2011 outlook.

During the second quarter, CenturyLink reported a profit of $102 million, or 17 cents per share, compared with $238 million, or 79 cents per share, in the same period in 2010.

What cut into CenturyLink's results, not surprisingly, were the integration costs stemming from its Qwest Communications purchase. The service provider reported that operation expenses increased to $3.7 billion from $1.2 billion in second-quarter 2010, due to $2.6 billion of operating costs associated with Qwest.

Integration of the Qwest, Embarq and Savvis assets will continue to be a major focus for CenturyLink in the foreseeable future.

In Q2 2011, CenturyLink incurred $245 million in integration costs related to the Qwest acquisition, $25 million related to the Embarq acquisition and $18 million related to the Savvis. However, it continues to make progress with its Embarq acquisition, reporting that the fifth and final billing and customer care systems conversion for Embarq's legacy customers was completed in July.

Here's a breakdown of the service provider's key metrics:

Looking forward to Q3 2011, CenturyLink has forecast adjusted earnings of 29-34 cents per share on revenue of $4.55-$4.6 billion. This is below analyst estimates of 65 cents on revenue of $4.45 billion.

Taking into account CenturyLink's first half 2011 results and the combined CenturyLink and Savvis operations, the service provider forecast operating revenues of $15.2 to $15.4 billion for the year 2011.

This article originally published here. Get your telecom industry briefing here.

Related articles:

At the time thisarticle was published Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright © 1995 - 2011 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.