AT&T vs. Verizon in 2026: Which Telecom Dividend Stock Is Actually Worth Owning?

By William Temple Published Mar 6, 8:05AM EST

Quick Read

Verizon (VZ) yields 5.34%, up 28% YTD, but guided 0% to 3% 2025 EPS growth with $144B debt. AT&T (T) yields 3.83%, beat Q4 EPS by 10.64%, grew revenue 3.6%, trades at 9x earnings.
Verizon’s major network outage raised questions about telecom reliability and dividend sustainability, highlighting AT&T’s stronger earnings growth and deleveraging trajectory despite Verizon’s higher current yield.

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Verizon suffered a major network outage this week, leaving hundreds of thousands of customers without service. A jarring reminder that in telecom, reliability is the whole product. It raises a fair question for dividend investors in either of these giants: is the yield you’re collecting built on a foundation that’s getting stronger, or one that’s quietly cracking?

Let’s settle the AT&T vs. Verizon debate for 2026, comparing dividend sustainability, debt trajectory, network momentum, and earnings quality, then hand down a verdict for retirement investors.

No. 2: Verizon

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ | VZ Price Prediction) is the better-yielding stock on paper. Its annualized dividend sits at $2.76 per share, and the current yield clocks in at 5.34%. That’s real income for retirement portfolios.

Verizon has been growing that dividend, modestly but consistently. It raised its quarterly payout from $0.6650 to $0.6775 in mid-2024, then again to $0.69 in mid-2025. No drama, no cuts. That’s the predictability income investors love.

The Q4 2024 results were genuinely impressive. Postpaid phone net additions hit 568,000, up 26.5% year over year, the best performance in over a decade. Fixed wireless access revenue jumped 51.6% to $611 million, with nearly 4.6 million FWA subscribers. The network is clearly winning customers.

But here’s the tension. Verizon guided 2025 adjusted EPS growth of just 0% to 3%. That’s essentially flat earnings on a stock trading near its 52-week high. Total debt sits at $144 billion, and the pending Frontier acquisition adds more leverage. Meanwhile, Verizon Business revenue fell 1.5% in Q4 2024, a segment that keeps dragging.

CEO Hans Vestberg offered optimism on the earnings call: “It’s only going to get better this year and beyond, as we have continued to strengthen Verizon with the pending Frontier acquisition, new satellite partnerships, and ongoing AI enablement.” That may prove true. But the near-term earnings story is muted, and this week’s outage is a reputational headache for a company whose entire value proposition is network quality.

Analysts have a consensus target of $49.80 on Verizon, which is actually below where the stock is trading today at $51.18. With the stock up nearly 28% year to date, a lot of the good news is already priced in.

No. 1: AT&T

AT&T (NYSE:T) won’t win the yield contest. Its annualized dividend is $1.11 per share, with a current yield of 3.83%. But the story here is about trajectory, and AT&T’s is pointing sharply upward.

The Q4 2025 results were a genuine beat. Adjusted EPS came in at $0.52 against a $0.47 estimate, a 10.64% beat. Revenue hit $33.47 billion, up 3.6% year over year. Full-year 2025 adjusted EPS grew 8.7% to $2.12, and free cash flow for the year totaled $16.586 billion.

The fiber buildout is the real story. AT&T now has 10.4 million fiber connections, up 11.5% year over year, and has added over 1 million fiber subscribers for eight consecutive years. 42% of AT&T Fiber households also take AT&T wireless, creating exactly the kind of sticky, bundled customer relationship that protects revenue for years.

On the balance sheet, yes, total liabilities are large at $293.7 billion. But AT&T is actively deleveraging. Net debt-to-EBITDA is expected to decline to roughly 3x by end of 2026. The company committed to $45 billion-plus in shareholder returns from 2026 through 2028, including an $18 billion-plus free cash flow target for 2026 alone.

CEO John Stankey put it plainly: “We achieved or surpassed all of our consolidated full-year guidance for 2025. With new investments in spectrum and fiber, we’re set to win more customers in more categories and geographies across the U.S.”

Analysts carry a consensus target of $29.41 on AT&T, still above the current price of $28.97. The stock trades at just 9x trailing earnings, one of the cheaper valuations in large-cap telecom.

The Verdict for Retirement Investors

Verizon pays you more today. AT&T is building something more valuable tomorrow. Verizon currently pays a higher yield, while AT&T shows stronger earnings momentum and a clearer deleveraging path. Investors researching dividend telecom stocks may want to weigh current income against long-term growth trajectory when evaluating either name. This week’s outage was a reminder that network reliability remains central to the telecom value proposition, a factor worth researching further for either company.

About the Author William Temple →

I write to invest, and I invest to spend more time with nature. Usually all at the same time. I'm a retired equities guy who saw a recession or four, and lives for what comes out of the other side of them.

I cover stocks across the board cause even though I feel like I've seen it all, there's always another way out there to make, and lose money. I want to help you do more of the former, and none of the latter. Making money with friends is my oxygen.

Let's go!