AT&T Makes Some Headway Meeting Earnings Estimates

[cnxvideo id=”550173″ placement=”ros”]AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) reported its first quarter financial results after the markets closed on Tuesday. The company said that it had $0.74 in earnings per share (EPS) and $39.4 billion in revenue, versus consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters that called for $0.74 in EPS and $40.57 billion in revenue. In the same period from last year, AT&T reported $0.72 in EPS and $40.53 in revenue.

The telecom giant reported its segment revenues for the quarter as:

• Business Solutions segment revenue totaled $16.8 billion, with $6.7 billion in EBITDA.
• Entertainment Group segment revenue was $12.6 billion, with $3.0 billion in EBITDA.
• Consumer Mobility segment revenue was $7.7 billion, with $3.2 billion in EBITDA.
• International segment revenues were $1.9 billion, with $170 million in EBITDA.

In terms of the outlook for the full year, and considering the impact of the Time Warner acquisition, AT&T updated its guidance. The company expects to see EPS growth in the mid-single-digit range, with free cash flow in the $18 billion range.

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Cash from operating activities totaled $9.2 billion in the first quarter, and capital expenditures reached $6.0 billion. Free cash flow totaled $3.2 billion for the quarter.

Randall Stephenson, AT&T Chairman and CEO, commented on the report:

In a very competitive quarter, we continued to execute on our goals of driving efficiencies in our business while growing adjusted earnings per share. But just as important, the strategic moves we’ve made over the last few months to expand our wireless capacity and fortify our 5G leadership will be felt for years to come. FirstNet gives us access to 20 megahertz of valuable, low-band spectrum and allows us to deploy our spectrum assets more efficiently as we build a high-quality, mobile broadband network for our first responders. And our planned acquisitions of Fiber Tower and Straight Path will add valuable millimeter wave spectrum assets to our 5G tool kit as we lead the way to the next generation of wireless technology.

Shares of AT&T closed Tuesday at $39.94, with a consensus analyst price target of $42.70 and a 52-week trading range of $36.10 to $43.89. Following the release of the earnings report the stock was up 1.2% at $40.40 in the after-hours trading session.

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