On the day of their respective earnings announcements, Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) rallied while AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) declined sharply. Investors of either company, or those individuals considering the nation’s biggest telecom stocks, would be wise to consider the underlying reasons.
A tale of two telecoms
Verizon’s report contained a basket of positive notes. First, the company’s first-quarter consolidated earnings per share rose 15% year over year.
In particular, the success of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)’s Wireless segment continues to impress the market and is the major contributing factor behind the stock’s 32% rally over the 52 weeks ended April 23. First-quarter results from the company’s bread-and-butter segment kept the trend going. Verizon realized 8% year-over-year increases in both service revenues and retail service revenues, and achieved record operating and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) margins.
AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), meanwhile, fell more than 5% on the day of its own quarterly report. Despite seemingly solid results, the stock dropped hard anyway. AT&T posted 12% higher diluted earnings per share year over year, and nearly $4 billion in free cash flow.
What lies beneath
At first glance, investors might view the two stocks as equals. After all, they’re each large-caps, with market values each in excess of $140 billion. In addition, they offer identical business models and similar dividend growth over the past several years.
However, if you dig deeper into their perspective reports, you can see where the divergences. AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)’s operating and EBITDA wireless margins are several percentage points lower than Verizon’s. In addition, Verizon grew sales during the quarter while AT&T did not. Verizon posted 4% growth in consolidated revenue, versus AT&T’s 1.5% consolidated revenue decline during the quarter.
AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) has a revenue problem
Going back further, we can see that the trend of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) outperforming AT&T on operating revenue growth is not contained to just one quarter. Verizon’s fiscal 2012 results showed revenue growth of 4.5% versus AT&T’s flat revenue year over year.
What’s more, the fiscal 2012 revenue results for each company are indicative of their longer-term trajectories. Since 2008, Verizon has posted compound annual revenue growth of 4.5%. Meanwhile, AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) has grown its revenues by less than one percent compounded annually over the same period.
The stark differences in sales that each company is experiencing likely stems from the respective performance of each company’s wireless segments. AT&T posted a net increase in total wireless subscribers of 291,000 in the first quarter, which sounds impressive, until you consider that tablet devices reflect 365,000 additions during the quarter. Therefore, it appears the number of phone customers is actually down.
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), on the other hand, dialed up 677,000 retail wireless net additions during the first three months of the year.
