Coronavirus Prompts More Cancellations, Adjustments
Telecom and tech continued responding Friday to COVID-19 with actions including moving to telework and canceling or postponing events, or moving them virtual.
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• The FCC launched a COVID-19 Consumer Warnings and Safety Tips webpage to alert consumers to scam phone calls and texts about the coronavirus pandemic. It includes sample audio from scams, said the agency. “We’re tracking scams and sharing information to arm consumers about how imposters use spoofing and other tactics to steal their money and their identity,” said Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau Chief Patrick Webre.
• AT&T is canceling the $4 billion “accelerated” stock buyback it had planned for Q2 with Morgan Stanley, said an SEC filing Friday. The business “continues to operate effectively during the COVID-19 global pandemic,” it said. But canceling the buyback and other stock repurchases will help AT&T “maintain flexibility and focus on continued investment in serving our customers, taking care of our employees and enhancing our network, including nationwide 5G,” it said. The strategy will enable AT&T to be “well positioned when the pandemic passes and economies begin to recover,” it said. The “evolving nature” of COVID-19 makes it impossible to “estimate the impact on our financial or operational results,” it said.
• CompTIA will introduce a “remote testing option” in about a month to allow information technology candidates to take their certification exams at home, “at any time, in a secure testing environment,” said the group. CompTIA extended the expiration date to June 30 on exam vouchers due to expire April 30: “Social distancing, indeterminate business hours and other disruptions to normalcy caused by the coronavirus pandemic have made it impractical, if not impossible, for the foreseeable future for the large majority of individuals to take their exams at a brick-and-mortar school or test center."
• Wedbush downgraded its target for AMC Entertainment to “neutral” to account for COVID-19 global theater closings in the second half of March through the end of May. If closures last longer, AMC “would need additional relief" from government assistance, rent waivers or new sources of cash to avert "a potential breach of debt covenants." wrote Michael Pachter. If pent-up demand resumes once theaters re-open -- assuming improved margins and operating expense control -- shares could “materially appreciate,” Pachter said. Wedbush projects AMC’s Q1 revenue at $953 million compared with its previous $1.2 billion Q1 estimate. Its Q2 revenue outlook is now $600 million, versus $1.4 billion. AMC’s stock closed 5.6% lower Friday at $3.19. Cinemark shares finished 0.2% higher at $11.42.
• Organizers of Music Biz 2020, May 11-14 at the JW Marriott in Nashville, postponed their conference to Aug. 16-19, they said. “All conference registrations and hotel reservations will be honored and automatically transferred for the postponed dates,” they said. The decision to postpone was made in “conjunction” with the JW Marriott and local health authorities, they said. The conference bills itself as the music industry’s "premier business-focused event."