AT&T Q3 earnings beat Wall Street estimates

Telecommunications company AT&T posted third-quarter revenue and earnings on Thursday, beating Wall Street estimates thanks to solid growth in subscriber numbers.

AT&T said overall group revenues slipped 4.1% year-on-year to $30.0bn, surpassing estimates by roughly $140.0m, while adjusted earnings per share came to $0.68 - ahead of expectations for a print of $0.61 per share.

The Dallas-based company highlighted "continued strong subscriber growth" in the quarter, with 708,000 postpaid phone net adds and 338,000 AT&T Fiber net adds - the unit's second-best quarter ever.

AT&T also said revenues from continuing operations dropped 4.1% to $31.3bn, reflecting the impact of the group's US Video separation in July 2021, while operating income dipped from $6.2bn to $6.0bn.

Operating expenses, on the other hand, narrowed from $25.1bn to $24.0bn but the decline was partially offset by increased mobility costs - including wireless equipment from increased sales and a mix of higher-priced smartphones.

Chief executive John Stankey said: "Our disciplined go-to-market approach is helping drive healthy subscriber growth with high-quality customers. As a result, we now expect to achieve wireless service revenue growth in the upper end of the 4.5% to 5% range."

As of 1300 BST, AT&T shares were up 2.32% in pre-market trading at $15.90 each.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com