AT&T Delivers Solid Q1 Earnings

by Angela Nazworth | April 24, 2012 12:17 pm

AT&T (NYSE:T[1]) was surging midday Tuesday after reporting better-than-expected earnings in the morning.

The nation’s second-largest wireless provider reported profits of $3.6 billion (60 cents per share), about 2% better than last year’s $3.4 billion and ahead of Thomson Reuters-polled analyst estimates[2] for 57 cents per share, according to The New York Times. Revenues of $31.8 billion also were up about 2%, to $575 million, though slightly below estimates for $31.86 billion.

The company credits some of its recent success to strong revenues from its mobile and wireless product line.

“Smartphone and branded computing device sales continue to set a record pace, mobile data revenues were up nearly 20 percent, and we achieved this growth with expanding margins,” AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson said in a press release.

AT&T reported $5.5 million in smartphone sales, which exceeded the company’s first-quarter sales record set last year. Smartphones represented more than 78% of postpaid device sales. The company activated 4.3 million Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL[3]) iPhones in the first quarter of this year; 21% of those activations were for new AT&T customers. AT&T credited its 4G network to the high number of activations.

Also during the first quarter, AT&T began repurchasing shares under its outstanding 300 million-share buyback authorization. The company repurchased 67.7 million shares for $2.1 billion during the period.

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2012/04/att-delivers-solid-q1-earnings-results/

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