AT&T Q2 2026: 10.7% EPS Beat and $10B Buyback Acceleration
As seen on the 24/7 Wall St. homepage on July 22, 2026.
AT&T crushed earnings with a 10.7% EPS beat while doubling down on shareholder returns, accelerating buybacks to $10 billion this year. The telecom's Advanced Connectivity segment is firing on all cylinders with service revenue up 5.1% and operating income jumping 20.3%, though a revenue miss signals the legacy business drag isn't over yet.
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AT&T posted Q2 2026 earnings per share of $0.65, topping the $0.59 consensus estimate by roughly 10.7%. That marks the strongest beat in at least two years for the company, and it came alongside an acceleration of the share repurchase program to $10 billion for the year — a signal that management is leaning hard into returning cash to shareholders even as the business navigates a mixed revenue picture.
The bright spot inside the quarter was the Advanced Connectivity segment, where service revenue grew 5.1% and operating income surged 20.3%. That kind of operating leverage is exactly what investors have been waiting to see, suggesting that AT&T's network investments are beginning to translate into meaningfully more profitable growth at the core of the business.
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The catch is on the top line: reported revenue of $31.6 billion came in just under the $31.8 billion estimate, a miss of roughly 0.8%. The gap isn't dramatic, but it keeps the pressure on AT&T to show it can shrink the drag from its legacy wireline and older-technology units fast enough to sustain the earnings momentum its connectivity business is building.