Verizon Profit, Revenue Rise but Postpaid Phone Losses Continue

Verizon Communications logged higher third-quarter profit and revenue, and the company said it is still on course to meet its yearly goals. - Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Verizon Communications logged higher profit and revenue in the third quarter, but the company lost lucrative postpaid phone customers in its consumer business.

The telecommunications provider on Wednesday said consumer revenue climbed 2.9% during the recent quarter, though the segment notched 7,000 wireless retail postpaid phone net losses.

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Business revenue fell 2.8% despite reporting 51,000 postpaid phone net additions.

Wireless service revenue–its largest business–rose 2.1% year-over-year to $21 billion.

The company added 306,000 broadband connections, ending the latest quarter with more than 13.2 million connections. It also added 261,000 new fixed-wireless access connections.

Shares rose 3.4% to $40.65 in premarket trading.

Verizon, the largest U.S. telecommunications provider by subscriber base, has been lagging rivals AT&T and T-Mobile recently. The carriers added 405,000 and 1 million postpaid net phone subscribers, respectively, during their latest quarters.

For its three months ended Sept. 30, Verizon posted a profit of $5.06 billion, or $1.17 a share, compared with $3.41 billion, or 78 cents a share, a year earlier.

Stripping out certain one-time items, adjusted per-share earnings were $1.21 a share, just ahead of the $1.19 a share that analysts had forecast, according to FactSet.

Revenue ticked 1.5% higher to $33.82 billion. Wall Street had modeled $34.26 billion.

Verizon said it remains confident in its full-year guidance. Verizon expects total wireless-service revenue growth of 2% to 2.8%, while adjusted per-share earnings are projected to rise 1% to 3%.

The report comes after the company appointed Daniel Schulman as its new chief executive earlier this month. He assumed Verizon’s top role as the carrier contends with fierce industry-wide competition that has put pressure on its pricing and ability to attract new customers

Write to Connor Hart at [email protected]

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