AT&T, Inc. (NYSE: T) continued to deliver strong results when it reported earnings after the markets closed on Thursday. Overall this company’s steady execution at its scale allowed for it to continually make substantial returns to shareholders, and for a company that mainly trades on its dividend AT&T is making the right moves. Now on to earnings.
The company said that it had $0.72 in earnings per share (EPS) on $40.52 billion in revenue. There were consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters that called for $0.72 in EPS on $40.62 billion in revenue. The same period from last year had $0.69 in EPS on $33.02 billion in revenue.
Cash from operating activities totaled $10.3 billion in the second quarter, and capital investment was $5.6 billion. Free cash flow increased by 8.4% from last year to $4.8 billion.
In terms of guidance for the full year, AT&T expects to be on track to meet or exceed consensus estimates that currently call for $2.86 in EPS on $164.85 billion in revenue.
Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and CEO, commented:
One year after our acquisition of DIRECTV, the success of the integration has exceeded our expectations. Cost synergies are ahead of target, we’ve added nearly 1 million DIRECTV subscribers since the acquisition, and our new video streaming services are scheduled to roll out later this year. We plan to serve every segment of the video industry and offer customers their favorite content virtually wherever and whenever they want it.
The company listed some of its key highlights from the report as:
- 2.1 million wireless net adds driven by connected devices, Mexico and Cricket
- U.S. wireless postpaid churn of 0.97%, second-lowest ever
- 342,000 U.S. DIRECTV net adds; 38,000 global TV net adds
- Nearly 1 million U.S. satellite net adds since acquisition of DIRECTV
- 74,000 IP broadband net adds
- Nearly 800,000 U.S.-branded smartphones added to subscriber base, more than offsetting a nearly 600,000 decline in U.S.-branded feature phone base
- 185,000 U.S.-branded (postpaid and prepaid) phone net adds
- 380 million North American 4G LTE POPs
Shares of AT&T closed Thursday at $42.52, with a consensus analyst price target of $41.04 and a 52-week trading range of $30.97 to $43.89. Following the release of the earnings report the stock was down 1.3% at $41.96 in the after-hours trading session.
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