Startup Culture Driving Sprint's Turnaround

2016 has marked Sprint Corp S as one of the most compelling comeback stories in the market. Sprint’s stock has far outpaced its competitors this year, recording a 134 percent year-to-date gain.

Turnaround Story

Heading into the halfway point of Sprint’s five-year turnaround plan, CEO Marcelo Claure said that the company is “definitely moving in the right direction.” The stock recently surpassed the $8 target the required for the company's employee equity incentive plan to kick in.

For Claure to receive a 10 million share bonus, shares of Sprint have to remain above the $8 dollar mark for 150 consecutive days; the company has clocked 15 consecutive days thus far, after passing the mark for the first time since November 2014.

Despite being a well-known brand over decades, Claure said that his company is run like a big startup, with very quick decision making and no bureaucracy. Sprint’s ability to be quick on its feet has been essential to turning around a company that has been plagued with issues for years.

“All the basics that you apply to entrepreneurs and a start-up, we apply to the Sprint re-startup,” said Claure in a recent interview.

Sprint’s biggest milestones? Cutting costs by $4 billion, getting back to positive operating income and free cash flow, and surpassing AT&T Inc. T and Verizon Communications Inc. VZ in net adds.

Signs Of Future Positive Catalysts

Sprint's parent-company Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son, who pledged a $50 billion investment in the United States this month, has been an encouraging sign of commitment to the company in 2017 and beyond, along with the Trump administration's favorable stance toward telecom and willingness to approve a potential merger between T-Mobile US Inc TMUS and Sprint.

While Sprint still has a long way to go to turn around the perception of the brand, things are certainly looking up for 2017.