AT&T (T, Financial) saw its shares rise over 4.2% in premarket trading Wednesday following better-than-expected subscriber additions in the first quarter and a plan to restart stock buybacks in Q2.
The telecom added 290,000 net wireless postpaid subscribers, exceeding Bloomberg's estimate of 280,272. Wireless postpaid phone net additions reached 324,000, beating projections of 253,528. Fiber net additions also came in strong at 261,000, slightly ahead of the 260,238 expected.
Postpaid phone churn ticked up to 0.83%, 11 basis points higher year over year and above the 0.75% forecast.
AT&T reported net income attributable to common shareholders of $4.4 billion, or $0.61 per share, compared to $3.4 billion, or $0.47 per share, in the year-ago quarter. Adjusted earnings were $0.51 per share, narrowly missing consensus estimates by $0.01.
Revenue for the quarter rose 2% year over year to $30.6 billion, just ahead of the $30.4 billion consensus. Free cash flow, excluding DIRECTV, was $3.1 billion, up from $2.8 billion a year earlier.
The company reaffirmed its full-year outlook, including adjusted EPS between $1.97 and $2.07, and free cash flow of at least $16 billion. Capital spending for the year is expected to be around $22 billion.
