AT&T (T) 2021 Q1 Financial Results Preview

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) history dates back to 1876 when renowned scientist Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. In 1885, Bell co-founded the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, or AT&T, which built most of the telephone networks across the U.S. In the late 1990s, the company split into three separate firms, one of which kept the AT&T name. Today, it is one of the world’s biggest telecommunications companies in terms of revenue.

The Dallas, Texas-based company recently announced better-than-expected financial results for the first quarter due to the strong growth of its wireless subscribers. AT&T reported adjusted earnings of 86 cents per share, slightly higher than 84 cents per share in the same period last year. Analysts on average were looking for adjusted earnings of 78 cents per share.

Revenue for the quarter increased nearly 3 percent on a year-over-year basis to $43.9 billion, beating the consensus forecast of $42.7 billion. The company added 595,000 wireless phone subscribers in the quarter, well above analysts’ expectations. Moreover, revenue from the WarnerMedia segment jumped 9.8 percent to $8.5 billion, fueled by higher subscription and ad revenue.

Speaking on the results, CEO John Stankey said in a statement, “We had another strong quarter of postpaid phone net adds, higher gross adds, lower churn and good growth in Mobility EBITDA. We also continue to increase penetration in markets where we offer fiber broadband and we’re moving quickly to deploy more fiber. HBO Max continued to deliver strong subscriber and revenue growth in advance of our international and AVOD launches planned for June.”

AT&T has been making heavy investments to develop its 5G wireless network. Due to 5G-related investment, the company’s net debt jumped to $169 billion in the first quarter.

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