Verizon Communications on Friday reported September-quarter adjusted earnings and revenue that edged by estimates. But VZ stock fell as the telecom added fewer postpaid wireless phone subscribers than expected amid large consumer line losses.
Reporting before the market open, the telecom firm said third-quarter profit fell 7% year over year to $1.32 a share, excluding special items. Revenue rose 4% to $34.2 billion.
A year earlier, Verizon earned $1.42 a share on revenue of $32.9 billion. Analysts had projected Verizon earnings of $1.29 a share on revenue of $33.8 billion.
Verizon said it added 8,000 postpaid phone subscribers, although it lost 189,000 customers in its consumer business. Analysts had estimated a gain of 32,000 of postpaid subscribers overall and a loss of only 7,000 consumer lines. In the year-earlier period, Verizon added 429,000 postpaid wireless phone customers.
AT&T on Thursday said it added 708,000 wireless postpaid phone subscribers in Q3.
Verizon Stock: Key Metric Tops Views
Verizon stock dropped 4.5% to close at 35.35 on the stock market today as the Nasdaq composite also retreated. Heading into the Verizon earnings report, VZ stock had declined 29% thus far this year despite its dividend.
Verizon also reported earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, of $12.2 billion. That's down a fraction from a year earlier, but ahead of estimates for $12.06 billion.
In addition, wireless service revenue rose 10% to $18.8 billion vs. analyst estimates of $18.76 billion.
Verizon stock holds a Relative Strength Rating of only 24 out of a possible 99, according to IBD Stock Checkup.
Follow Reinhardt Krause on Twitter @reinhardtk_tech for updates on 5G wireless, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and cloud computing.
