Breaking news: AT&T free cash flow rises over $2 billion in Q1 earnings
On April 24th, mobility and fiber service provider AT&T (NYSE: T) reported their first financial results for the 2024 year.
AT&T is the second of the United States telecoms giants to announce their Q1 earnings, with Verizon having reported on Monday and T-Mobile reporting results tomorrow.
A highlight for the company was its free cash flow figure of $3.1 billion for Q1, up a whopping $2.1 billion year-over-year (YoY) from Q1 of 2023.
Net income stood at $3.8 billion, while operating income was $5.8 billion versus $6.0 billion in the year-ago quarter. When adjusting for certain items, adjusted operating income* was $6.0 billion, essentially flat with the year-ago quarter.
Previously, the company had reported operating income of $5.3 billion in Q4 of 2023, which was a 10% year-on-year increase from Q4 2022.
AT&T reported earnings per share (EPS) of $0.47. This was higher than AT&T’s previous EPS of $0.30 per share for Q4 of 2023.
Company revenues were at $30 billion. In the previous quarter, AT&T’s revenues stood at $32 billion.
Adjusted EBITDA was $11.0 billion versus $10.6 billion in the year-ago quarter.
Cash from operating activities came in at $7.5 billion. Previously, the company had reported $11.4 billion in cash from operating activities for Q4.
Mobility service revenues were also positive at $16.0 billion, up 3.3% year over year, while consumer broadband revenues stood at $2.7 billion, up 7.7% year over year.
Old rivalries
The figures were a victory over AT&T’s longtime rival Verizon Communications.
Earlier this week, Verizon beat estimates and pleasantly surprised the stock market when it reported revenues of $33.2 billion and an EPS of $1.19 for Q1.
EBITDA for Verizon also climbed 1.4% to $12.1 billion, while the company’s wireless service revenues rose 3.3% to $19.5 billion.
Expectations
Ahead of the results announcement, analysts expected AT&T to have a higher EPS, but lower revenues, with EPS anticipated at $0.51 per ordinary share and revenues for the company expected to come in at approximately $30.5 billion.
Outlook for the 2024 year
In its previous results, AT&T outlined its expectations for the 2024 financial year. They included:
- Wireless service revenue growth of about 3%
- Broadband revenue growth of 7% or more
- Adjusted EBITDA growth of about 3%
- Capital investment* in the $21-$22 billion range.
- Free cash flow* in the $17-$18 billion range.
- Adjusted EPS* of $2.15 to $2.25
Having already made some of these goals in the first quarter alone, it seems safe to assume that AT&T is on-track to achieve its 2024 goals for now.
The post Breaking news: AT&T free cash flow rises over $2 billion in Q1 earnings appeared first on Invezz
