CenturyLink Cobbles Together a Decent Second Quarter

Investors have been none too happy with CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL) this year. Shares are down 27% year to date, with that fall fueled by the mid-February announcement that the company would be more than halving the dividend. Meanwhile, revenue has continued its slow move in the wrong direction.

Yet there's hope, as second-quarter revenue notched only a small drop from the previous quarter and the company is getting ready to make some infrastructure investments that could pay off down the road. The stock certainly isn't for those who don't like risk, but some reasons for cautious optimism might be emerging.

Revenue in the second quarter of 2019 fell 5.5% year over year as sales across all of CenturyLink's segments declined save for in the international and global accounts segment, where revenue was flat. A drag from legacy services like landline phones and slow internet connection services were blamed as the main culprit. However, from Q1 to Q2, management pointed out that revenues fell only 1%. While a year-over-year comparison is usually a more accurate one, the service fee business model is fairly consistent, so the sequential improvement in the declining top line could mean CenturyLink is about to turn some sort of corner.

Source Fool.com