AT&T Inc. Beats Quarterly Estimates; Offers Guidance (T)

The Dallas-based telecom giant, AT&T (T), reported quarterly operating results after the closing bell on Tuesday that just barely topped analysts’ expectations.

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AT&T’s Earnings in Brief

EPS for the quarter came in at $0.53 per share, beating the projected $0.50 figure, and more impressively marking a hefty 20% improvement from the $0.44 EPS seen during the year-ago period. AT&T raked in revenues of $33.16 billion for the quarter, topping the projected figure of $33.06 billion and marking a healthy 1.8% improvement on a year-over-year basis. For the full year 2013, AT&T reported EPS of $2.50, marking a solid 8% increase from the last year-end figure of $2.31 per share. U-verse revenues posted the biggest year-over-year increase among all the operating segments, growing by nearly 28%. Looking ahead to 2014, T expects revenue growth in a range of 2% to 3%.

CEO Commentary

AT&T’s chairman and CEO, Randall Stephenson, had the following to say: "With Project VIP, we're delivering faster speeds and new services to millions more customers. And growth on these platforms is going strong. We exceeded build targets across the board. Our 4G LTE network is nearly complete and is the nation's most reliable with lightning-fast speeds. U-verse is rapidly expanding, and our fiber-to-the-business build is off to a fast start.”

AT&T’s Dividend

AT&T most recently announced a dividend raise in December 2013. The company announced that it would be boosting its quarterly payout from 45 cents to 46 cents; the dividend is payable on 2/3/2014 and it went ex-dividend on 1/8/2014.

Stock Performance

AT&T stock is down 64 cents, or 1.90%, in after-hours market trading. So far this year, the company’s stock is down a little over 4%.