Leap Wireless International Inc.  (LEAP) Trade Now »     Rate LEAP  -  Discuss LEAP  -  Add to Watch List        

In what he’s calling a “mid-quarter update,” Sanford Bernstein telecom analyst Craig Moffett says the rich — AT&T (T) and Verizon Communications’s (VZ) Verizon Wireless unit — are turning in impressive results while second-tier providers Sprint Nextel (S) (number 3 in the US) and Deutsche Telekom’s (DT) T-Mobile (number 4), and C-tier providers MetroPCS (PCS) and Leap Wireless (LEAP), are putting up some pretty dispiriting numbers.

“Never before has the divergence between the high end and low end of the Wireless market been so stark,” writes Moffett.

Churn rates at both AT&T and Verizon remai

One company that's doing well despite the crappy economy: MetroPCS, which sells all-you-can-eat cellphone service in LA and other markets for as low as $30 a month. The carrier announced this morning that it had signed up 249,999 net new subscribers during Q3, significantly more than the 182,000 that Wall Street expected, according to Jefferies analyst Romeo Reyes.

One handy growth driver: MetroPCS' newish "MetroFlash" service, which lets you use your old Verizon (VZ) or Sprint (S) phone on MetroPCS' network. Goldman's Scott Malat thinks that drove 10%-20% of new subscriber additions during

During the last 5 days, the industries that have delivered the strongest performance include:

Toys
Telecommunications
Textiles
Wireless Services
Optical Equipment
Restaurants

We are currently screening these industries looking for companies that pass our strict criteria. Some of the top performing stocks during the week from these sectors include:

Toy Stocks:

Monarch Services, Inc. (MAHI)
4 Kids Entertainment, Inc. (KDE)

Telecommunication Stocks:

Brightpoint, Inc. (CELL)
Telecommunications Indonesia (TLK)
Neutral Tandem, Inc. (TNDM)
Telecommunications Company of Chile (CTC)

Textile Stocks:

D

The U.S. economy is getting rocked, and the U.S. mobile business is slowing. So what's pushing the growth at Leap Wireless, which sells cheap, all-you-can-eat wireless service? Easy: Cheap, all-you-can-eat wireless service.

Leap said today that it signed up 171,000 net new subscribers during Q2, up 35% y/y; that number handily beating Goldman's estimate of 119,000. Customer retention improved, too: Q2 churn -- the percentage of subscribers that leave the service each month -- declined to 3.8% from 4.3% a year ago.

While major U.S. carriers like AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ) have started offering