My speculative play, and my largest holding, LVLT, is down 10% in pre-market trading after they released their earnings report. Thank goodness for selling a covered call (I’ll explain in detail in my Options series sometime in the future).

From Level 3’s Investor’s Relations site:

BROOMFIELD, Colo., July 26, 2007 - Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) reported consolidated revenue of $1.052 billion for the second quarter 2007, compared to consolidated revenue of $1.056 billion for the first quarter 2007.

The net loss for the second quarter 2007 was $202 million, or $0.13 per share, compared to a net loss of $647 million, or $0.44 per share, for the previous quarter. Included in the net loss for the first quarter 2007 was a $427 million loss or $0.29 per share on the extinguishment or refinancing of long-term debt.

“While we have a great deal of work remaining, we made good progress on our overall integration of acquired companies,” said James Q. Crowe, CEO of Level 3. “We are pleased with the continued positive operating environment in terms of demand and importantly, our efforts from integration and continued cost savings resulted in improved profitability and growth in Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA.”

Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA(1) was $193 million in the second quarter 2007, compared to $170 million for the first quarter 2007.

I haven’t had a chance to look over their numbers yet. They’re having an earnings call at 10am EST to discuss this quarter. I may sneak away from my desk at work to listen in for a bit. It’s mornings like these that make me want to crawl back into bed. LVLT’s put my portfolio in the hole $90; however, by using a covered call (it’s like insurance for stocks), I’ve mitigated about $70. In other words, I’m only down about $20 which is very easy to recover and I still own all of my shares of LVLT. It’s a neat concept that I’ll get around to explaining (read Getting Started in Options by Thomsett for an in-depth but excellent explanation).