Qualcomm Inc (QCOM)

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Qwest, Qualcomm top earnings slate
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WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) -- MCI and Qwest Communications are expected to post lower sales, while Qualcomm is expected to continue its momentum, when those three companies issue quarterly results next week.

That trio, along with Citizens Communications (CZN: news, chart, profile), comprises the last major companies in the telecommunications sector that haven't reported.

Citizens, a Stamford, Conn., local phone carrier, gets the ball rolling Tuesday. The company is expected to post a profit of 9 cents a share on revenue of $545 million, according to the consensus of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call.

Sales are expected to fall slightly from the year-ago period amid more customer disconnections, but revenue could be up from the second quarter.

Analysts are looking to see how many access lines the company loses, particularly from cable competitor Time Warner in upstate New York.

Qualcomm (QCOM: news, chart, profile) issues results after the markets close on Wednesday. The company is expected to earn 29 cents a share, excluding one-time items and results from its QSI investment arm, on revenue of $1.41 billion.

Qualcomm raised its forecast in September but also cautioned that difficulty in gauging royalties may require a change in how the company accounts for them. Investors will be looking for more information regarding those accounting changes in the company's next report.

Qualcomm makes most of its money by licensing the wireless transmission standard CDMA, or code division multiple access. Several big wireless carriers in the U.S. and Asia use CDMA to transmit wireless phone calls. In addition, the company provides nearly all of the chips used to operate CDMA phones sold around the world.

Finally, MCI (MCIP: news, chart, profile) and Qwest Communications (MCIP: news, chart, profile) are slated to update investors on Thursday.

Wall Street predicts MCI will earn 4 cents a share on revenue of $5.11 billion, with sales down 15 percent or more from the prior quarter.

Analysts are watching to see how much competitive price pressures and the company's pullback from the consumer long-distance business take a bit out of sales.

Qwest, meanwhile, is seen losing 15 cents a share on revenue of $3.45 billion, down from $3.57 billion a year earlier.

Yet the company's loss of local access lines could slow, a trend that investors would view as positive. Qwest might also see stronger growth in the long-distance market as large carriers such as MCI and AT&T pull back.

Also coming out next week is Time Warner Telecom. The small local phone competitor - one of the few publicly traded carriers still alive after the end of the Internet bubble - is projected to lose 27 cents a share on revenue of $163 million.

Time Warner Telecom (TWTC: news, chart, profile) reports Monday.


Jeffry Bartash is a reporter for CBS.MarketWatch.com in Washington.