AT&T Inc. on Thursday beat earnings expectations for its latest quarter, the latest full period to include results from the WarnerMedia business, which the telecom company has since spun off.
Revenue fell to $38.1 billion from $43.9 billion, although last year’s total included results from the company’s US video and Vrio businesses, which have now been divested. Analysts tracked by FactSet were expecting $38.2 billion for the quarter.
The company reported net income of $4.8 billion, or 65 cents a share, compared to $7.5 billion, or $1.02 a share, a year earlier. After accounting for merger amortization charges and other items, AT&T T earned -0.31% 77 cents a share, down from 85 cents a share a year ago but above the FactSet consensus of 62 cents a share.
The stock rose 1.1% in premarket trading on Thursday.
AT&T officially spun off its WarnerMedia business in a combination with Discovery on April 8, and the company now plans to refocus its energies on the telecom side of the business.
“AT&T has entered a new era, meeting this opportunistic moment from a
Position of flexibility and strength thanks to our evolving networks
Customer experience, growing 5G and fiber customer base and much more
stronger balance sheet,” Chief Executive John Stankey said in a press release.
The company added 691,000 net postpaid phone subscribers in the quarter, which it says was its strongest first-quarter performance in more than a decade. The FactSet consensus was for 413,000 postpaid phone subscriptions. AT&T saw a 0.79% postpaid phone churn for the period.
AT&T achieved 289,000 fiber accesses in its fixed-line business for consumers.
Amidst a quarter of heavy investment, AT&T generated $700 million in free cash flow. The company said free cash flow for standalone AT&T was $2.9 billion.
“Our results, including free cash flow, are in line with our expectations of meeting the full-year guidance provided at our most recent analysts’ meeting,” Stankey said in the press release.
Learn more about AT&T’s daily targets for analysts
AT&T shares are down 3.3% over the past three months, while the S&P 500 SPX is up -0.06%, up 1.4%.