Are Analysts and Investors Still Disappointed With Verizon Earnings?

In the past two quarters, Verizon has disappointed analysts, posting EPS a penny below estimates in both quarters. It will be interesting to see how analysts will receive this bottom line beat, as the current reaction is not overly positive.

During the first quarter, Verizon agreed to sell its local wireline operations serving customers in three states to Frontier Communications and monetized wireless tower assets in a transaction with American Tower. At the same time, the company announced an accelerated share-repurchase program to return $5 billion in capital to shareholders. Verizon also completed the purchase of $10.4 billion in spectrum in the Federal Communications Commission’s AWS-3 auction.

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Cash flow from operating activities increased to $10.2 billion at the end of the first quarter, compared to $7.1 billion from the same period in the previous year. The $10.2 billion included a non-recurring $2.4 billion related to the monetization of tower assets. Cash and cash equivalents totaled $4.39 billion to end the first quarter.

In terms of its segments, Verizon reported:

• Wireless total revenues were $22.3 billion, up 6.9% from the first quarter in 2014. This segment had 565,000 retail postpaid net additions, up 4.8% in the same time.
• Wireline total operating revenues were $9.5 billion, down 2.0% from the same quarter in the previous year. Verizon added 133,000 net new FiOS Internet connections and 90,000 net new FiOS Video connections. Verizon had totals of 6.7 million FiOS Internet and 5.7 million FiOS Video connections at the end of the first quarter, representing year-over-year increases of 9.4% and 7.9%, respectively.

Lowell McAdam, chairman and CEO of Verizon, said:

Verizon is off to a strong start in 2015 with another quarter of profitable growth. We expanded our base of customers seeking a premium experience, and we grew revenues, earnings and cash flow during a quarter in which we also took significant steps to sharpen our strategic focus. We are confident in our ability to maintain momentum and continue to add value for customers and shareholders.

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Shares of Verizon closed Monday up 1% at $49.38. Following the release of the earnings report, shares were up 0.2% at $49.50 in premarket trading Tuesday. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $51.34 and a 52-week trading range of $45.09 to $53.66.