Before U.S. markets open Tuesday morning, telecom giant Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) is scheduled to report second-quarter earnings per share (EPS) that are nearly 24% higher than EPS in the same period a year ago. That is primarily due to the $130 billion acquisition of the minority stake in Verizon Wireless once held by Vodafone PLC (NASDAQ: VOD).
AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) reports results after markets close on Wednesday, and what used to be known as Ma Bell is expected to report EPS of $0.64, or down about 4.5% from the year-ago quarter. AT&T hopes to regain growth with its proposed $45 billion acquisition of satellite TV provider DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV).
Both companies have faced increased pressure from T-Mobile USA Inc. (NYSE: TMUS) and Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S), although Verizon is believed to have weathered the storm better. Verizon has already revealed that it added more than 1.4 million subscribers during the second quarter and has had record growth in sales of tablets, combined with strong sales of smartphones.
AT&T added more than 2 million new wireless and wireline subscribers in the first quarter, but it has said nothing about its second-quarter results. If it’d had something to say, we’d have heard it by now certainly.
Estimated revenue growth for the quarter is tilted toward Verizon, with growth of 4.5% compared with 3.7% at AT&T. Since releasing first-quarter results last April, AT&T’s shares are down a few cents, from $36.29 to Friday’s closing price of $36.17.
Verizon shares closed at $46.28 the day it announced first-quarter earnings and closed at $50.75 last Friday. In the past three months, investors — including Warren Buffett — have voted for Verizon with their wallets.
Verizon’s shares traded at $50.65 in the early afternoon on Monday, down about 0.2%, in a 52-week range of $45.08 to $51.94.
AT&T shares also traded down about 0.2% to $36.10, in a 52-week range of $31.74 to $36.86.
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