CommScope’s Q4 revenue declines by 38%, struggles with $9B debt

After conceding in November that CommScope could be headed for bankruptcy, the top executives for leading telecom technology vendor CommScope didn’t have a cheery update for investors during their Q4 earnings call Thursday.

Revenue slid 38.4% in the fourth quarter to $1.186 billion, while full-year sales were down 23.1% to $5.789 billion. (CommScope’s earnings release can be found here.)

Business has slipped in each of CommScope’s operational quadrants, the hardest hit being its biggest — “Connectivity and Cable Solutions” revenue was down 42% to $556 million in Q4.

Of greater disappointment to investors, however, was the fact that CommScope didn’t have a buyer lined up for its Access Networks Solutions business. The Hickory, N.C.-based company is $9 billion in debt.

In early October, it sold its “Home Networks” unit, which makes “customer premises equipment” like video set-tops and gateways, to Vantiva, the French company formerly known as Technicolor.

CommScope needs to generate more cash to pay down its debt. But on Thursday, company CFO Kyle Lorentzen said his team has yet encounter an offer for the sector with the right “valuation” and that CommScope wasn’t going to “sell its assets on the cheap.”

The Access Networks Solutions operation sells technology components for cable networks, including nodes, amplifiers and cable modem termination systems. The unit experienced a 43% sales dive in 2023 to $95 million, but CommScope officials expect revenue to pick up in the back half of this year.

Comcast is using CommScope’s Full Duplex amplifier as part of its DOCSIS 4.0 upgrade.

CommScope shares started the day at $1.39 a share and ended up at $1.16 per unit. They ticked up slightly in after-hours trading. Yahoo