AUS
NZ
UK
CA
USA
IND
Summary
- CEO John Stankey said the addition of 595,000 postpaid phones was the best in the first quarter in more than ten years.
- WarnerMedia unit’s HBO Max and HBO added 2.7 million new more subscribers.
- AT&T’s consolidated revenue during the first quarter grew 2.7 percent year over year.
AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) shares rose as much as close to 6 percent on Thursday after the company posted a strong first quarter earnings driven by solid performance in its wireless, fiber and WarnerMedia business.
The Texas-based telecommunications company reported a 2.7 percent year-over-year growth in its consolidated revenue for the first quarter ended March 31 to US$43.94 billion.
Adjusted EPS increased 2.4 percent to 86 cents from 84 cents in the year-ago period while diluted EPS increased to US$1.04 from 63 cents.
AT&T added 595,000 net postpaid phones during the quarter, which CEO John Stankey said was the best wireless additions in the first quarter in more than ten years.
WarnerMedia saw 2.7 million more subscribers for its HBO Max and HBO during the quarter while AT&T’s fiber internet service added 235,000 subscribers.
Segment wise performance
AT&T’s revenues from the communications segment accounted US$28.18 billion, up 5.2 percent year over year.
Revenues from mobility business rose 9.4 percent to US$19.03 billion from US$17.40 billion.
Sales of smartphone sales fuelled equipment revenues to grow 45.2 percent year over to US$5 billion. Service revenues came in at US$14.05 billion, up 0.6 percent as the decline in international roaming revenues offset subscriber gains.
Meanwhile, revenues from business wireline and consumer wireline business dropped 3.5 percent and 0.4 percent respectively.
Source: Pixabay
In the WarnerMedia segment, AT&T saw its revenues jump 9.8 percent year over year to US$8.53 billion during the three months.
Subscription revenue grew 12.6 percent while content and advertising increased 3.5 percent and 18.5 percent respectively.
CFO Pascal Desroches noted that WarnerMedia’s strategy to release its movies in theaters and HBO Max on the same day has been a success.
Domestic subscribers for HBO and HBO Max totaled 44.2 million at the end of the quarter. It has 64 million subscribers globally.
On Tuesday, rival Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) said that its total subscriber count by the first quarter totaled 207.6 million, missing the company’s estimate of 210 million subscribers.
2021 Forecast
AT&T continues to anticipate its consolidated revenue for the full year 2021 to grow around 1 percent on a comparable basis.
Adjusted EPS is projected to remain stable with 2020 figure.
In 2020, the company’s consolidated revenue fell to US$171.8 billion from US$181.2 billion in 2019 amid the impact from the pandemic.
AT&T shares, which fell over 24 percent in 2020, gained over 6 percent year to date. In the 52-weeks period, the stock traded in the range of US$26.35 to US$33.24.
