NII Holdings Shares Plunged: What You Need to Know

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of Latin American wireless carrier NII Holdings (NAS: NIHD) plunged today, down by as much as 11% after the company reported earnings this morning.

So what: Revenue in the fourth quarter tallied up to $1.6 billion, a bit short of the market's expectation of $1.68 billion. However, the real shocker was the bottom line, and the loss of $0.05 per share was a big surprise compared to the $0.19-per-share profit that the Street was looking for.

Now what: The company added 467,000 net subscribers during the fourth quarter, but attributed the surprise loss to an unexpected rise in costs related to network deployment and marketing. Increasing competition led to higher spending to build its brand and retain customers. Forward-looking guidance also came in a tad light, with fiscal 2012's revenue forecast of $7.1 billion falling short of the $7.3 billion consensus.

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At the time thisarticle was published Fool contributorEvan Niuholds no position in any company mentioned.Click hereto see his holdings and a short bio. Try any of our Foolish newsletter servicesfree for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe thatconsidering a diverse range of insightsmakes us better investors. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.

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