AT&T Profit Tops Wall Street View, But Revenues Miss

(RTTNews) - AT&T Inc. (T) Tuesday reported a second-quarter profit that increased from a year ago and also trumped Wall Street estimates. The company also lifted its full year earnings outlook, however, its quarterly revenues fell short of expectations.

Dallas, Texas-based telecom giant's second-quarter profit rose to $5.25 billion or $0.81 per share from $4.01 billion or $0.63 per share last year.

Adjusting for a $0.21 non-cash actuarial gain on benefit plans and $0.31 of costs for amortization, merger- and integration-related expenses and other items, earnings were $0.91 per share, up from $0.79 per share last year. On average, 8 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.85 per share for the quarter.

AT&T's revenues for the quarter dropped to $39.0 billion from $39.8 billion last year. Analyst had predicted revenues of $39.39 billion.

The company said revenues declined largely due to the impact of ASC 606 which included netting of about $900 million of USF with operating expenses.

AT&T reported 3.8 million wireless net additions, with 3.1 million in U.S., driven by prepaid and connected devices. AT&T added a net 46,000 postpaid mobile phone subscribers in the second quarter. The company said postpaid churn rate for the quarter in the U.S. was 0.82 percent.

"It was an exciting quarter for AT&T as we completed the acquisition of Time Warner on June 14 and created a modern media company built around premium content, 170 million direct-to-customer relationships, advertising technology and high-speed networks," said Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and CEO.

The telecom giant last month won court approval to close its $85 billion acquisition of media company Time Warner Inc. The company also announced a deal to buy AppNexus.

"Time Warner joins us coming off an impressive second-quarter. Turner turned in solid subscription and advertising revenue growth, Warner Bros. is in high gear with a record number of series in production, and HBO delivered strong subscriber revenue growth.

"Our goal is to reshape the way media and entertainment work for consumers, and you will see us continue to do exactly that."

Moving ahead, AT&T raised its full-year 2018 adjusted earnings guidance to "the high end of the $3.50 range." Analysts currently estimate earnings of $3.40 per share.

T closed Tuesday's trading at $31.68, up $0.68 or 2.19%, on the NYSE. The stock, however, declined $0.40 or 1.26% in the after-hours trade.