Telefonica Quarterly Net Income Falls 27%, Missing Estimates

Telefonica SA, Europe’s second-largest phone company, said quarterly profit slumped 27 percent, trailing analysts’ estimates, as intensifying competition cut earnings in its domestic market of Spain.

Second-quarter net income was 1.54 billion euros ($2.2 billion), compared with the 1.64 billion-euro average estimate of analysts. Profit was weighed down by a 353 million-euro writedown on a stake in Telecom Italia SpA, Madrid-based Telefonica said today. Sales climbed 2.2 percent to 15.5 billion euros, missing the 15.7 billion-euro average estimate.