AT&T

The following is a summary of the AT&T Inc. (T) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript: Financial Performance: AT&T finished Q4 2023 with improved results, including annual free cash flow growth. Reported over 1.7 million postpaid phone net additions for 2023 and a base increase of more than 10% to over 71.2 million subscribers. Annual wireless service revenues increased by more than $7.5 billion and mobility EBITDA grew by approximately $4 billion. Expanded fiber revenues to over $6.2 billion in 2023 with 1.1 million fiber net customers. Full year free cash flow was higher than expected at $16.8 billion. Reduced vendor financing obligations by $3.3 billion in 2023 and achieved a year-end net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio of under 3 times. Quarterly revenue growth was at 2.2%, while full-year growth was at 1.4%. Adjusted EBITDA and EPS for the quarter grew by 3.2% and fell by 11.5% respectively. Notably, full-year […]

CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows: We raise our 12-month target price by $3 to $19, 7.9x our 2024 EPS estimate a slight premium to its three-year forward average at 7.3x, reflecting recent results. We trim our 2024 EPS estimate by $0.10 to $2.39 and set 2025’s at $2.45. T reported Q4 operating EPS of $0.54 vs. $0.61, $0.02 below the consensus. Q4 revenue increased 2.2%, driven by 4.1% growth in the Mobility segment, with a 3.9% increase in service revenue and 4.7% growth in equipment. The Consumer Wireline segment saw a 3.8% increase, driven by 8.3% broadband growth, but partially offset by a 10.3% decline in the Business Wireline segment due to ongoing declines in legacy offerings. Postpaid net phone adds were 526K, while prepaid phone net losses were 132K. Given what

By Emily Dattilo The tide is turning for AT&T, one analyst team said, lifting its rating on the telecommunications stock. Oppenheimer analysts Timothy Horan and Edward Yang upgraded AT&T to Outperform from Perform in a Friday research report. They set a target of $21 for the stock price and raised their forecasts for revenue and earnings. “T has underperformed the market and peers the past few years as the company underwent a difficult transition to position itself as a pure connectivity provider,” Horan and Yang wrote. “We believe these headwinds have moved to the rearview, and the stock is set to benefit from a number of tailwinds.” The analyst team presented five positive factors. First, they said, the capacity and coverage of AT&T’s network has improved. Second, the company has made strides in terms of broadband subscribership and revenue, with 60% of its broadband customers using fiber connections, which offer

CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows: We raise our 12-month target price by $3 to $16, 6.4x our ’24 EPS estimate, a discount to its three-year forward average P/E at 8.0x, reflecting its highly leveraged balance sheet. We increase our ’23 EPS estimate by $0.02 to $2.43 and raise ’24’s by $0.04 to $2.49. T reported Q3 operating EPS of $0.64 vs $0.68, $0.02 above the consensus. Q3 revenue rose 1.0%, with 2.0% growth in mobility, driven by 3.7% service growth and 4.6% growth in consumer wireline, partially offset by a 7.9% drop in business wireline. Postpaid phone net adds were 468k, prepaid adds came in at 26k, and fiber net adds were 296k. Given the solid Q3 results, coupled with what we saw in Q2, we believe the ship is slowly beginning

AT&T (T) shares rose by more than 7% in recent Thursday trading after the company logged Q3 results that beat Wall Street’s expectations. The company posted Q3 adjusted earnings from continuing operations of $0.64 per diluted share, down from $0.68 a year earlier. Analysts polled by Capital IQ expected $0.62. Operating revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30 was $30.35 billion, up from $30.04 billion a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by Capital IQ expected $30.24 billion. The company said it now anticipates 2023 adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization growth of more than 4% versus its prior guidance of over 3%. Free cash flow for the year is now expected to be roughly $16.50 billion versus AT&T’s prior outlook of at least $16 billion, the company said.

AT&T reached a key milestone in the third quarter. Gains from the company’s next-generation fiber network offset losses from its legacy non-fiber footprint, generating net gains for the consumer broadband business. Excluding DSL and AT&T’s nascent fixed-wireless access service, the company eked out a net consumer broadband gain of 15,000, including fiber gains of 296,000. That propelled AT&T’s broadband revenues almost 10% higher, lifted by a nearly 27% gain in consumer fiber revenue. The company raises its full-year broadband revenue growth outlook to at least 7%, up from at least 5%.

JPMorgan analyst Philip Cusick maintains AT&T (NYSE:T) with a Neutral and lowers the price target from $18 to $17.

AT&T shared its third-quarter free cash flow guidance at an industry conference. The company expects to deliver $4.5 billion to $5 billion in free cash for the current quarter. AT&T reiterated its full-year free cash flow guidance of $16 billion or more. The stock rose almost 2% in premarket trading after the release of the guidance. AT&T needs to make up for the $11 billion in free cash flow in the third and fourth quarters to meet its full-year guidance. Analysts expect AT&T to generate $4.955 billion in free cash flow in the third quarter. Free cash flow is an important metric for telecom stocks and is used to pay dividends. AT&T currently pays $1.12 in annual dividends per share.

AT&T CEO John Stankey says the telecommunications company continues to work with regulators on the potential need to remediate lead-sheathed cables, but that the company “does not believe there is a public health crisis,” a concern that has emerged following a recent series of stories in the Wall Street Journal. Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia and Technology conference in San Francisco on Wednesday, Stankey said the company has taken steps to understand the issues the Journal has raised, but that AT&T feels like the Journal was “over-writing their headlines ” by suggesting the issue pointed to considerable risk to the health of both the public and AT&T employees. “We will continue to work with regulators, and we will make adjustments if required,” he said. “But we don’t believe there is a public health crisis, and we believe we’ve been responsible … We will work collaboratively to make sure our

AT&T CEO John Stankey is leaving the door open to more price increases. Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference, Stankey said the company’s massive investments in its fiber-optic network are driving benefits to its wireless service. “It’s driving a lot more value back to the customer. They’re using more of the product, they’re relying more on it, and it performs better,” Stankey said. “When you have a satisfied customer who gets more utility out of the service they use, you do have the opportunity to take price in places and you should.”