AT&T Reports First-Quarter Results
First-Quarter Consolidated Results
- Diluted EPS of $0.56 as reported compared to $0.75 in the year-ago quarter
- Adjusted EPS of $0.86 compared to $0.85 in the year-ago quarter
- Consolidated revenues of $44.8 billion
- Cash from operations of $11.1 billion, up 24%
- Capital expenditures of $5.2 billion
- Free cash flow of $5.9 billion
“Our first-quarter results show that we’re delivering on what we promised,” said Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and CEO. “We’re on plan to meet our de-leveraging goals with strong free cash flow and asset sales. We grew Entertainment Group EBITDA in the quarter and are confident we’ll meet or exceed our full-year target. FirstNet deployment continues ahead of schedule. And we are recognized for having the nation’s best wireless network1, as well as the fastest network2.
“All this speaks volumes about our focus on our strategic priorities and our ability to grow our Mobility, WarnerMedia and emerging Xandr businesses. Our teams are executing well and have turned in a good performance to start the year.”
First-Quarter Results
Communications Highlights
- Mobility:
- Service revenues up 2.9%; operating income and EBITDA growth with postpaid phone and prepaid net adds
- 179,000 postpaid smartphone net adds in the U.S.
- 80,000 postpaid phone net adds
- 96,000 prepaid net adds of which 85,000 are phones
- Entertainment Group:
- 13% operating income growth with solid ARPU gains
- 6.9% EBITDA growth as company targets stability
- Focus on long-term value customer base
- 22.4 million premium TV subscribers – 544,000 net loss
- 1.5 million DIRECTV NOW subscribers – 83,000 net loss
- Nearly 300,000 AT&T Fiber gains; 45,000 broadband net adds with broadband revenue growth of more than 8%
- 12.4 million customer locations passed with fiber
WarnerMedia Highlights
- Solid revenue growth with strong operating income growth with gains in all business units
- Turner subscription revenue growth
- HBO digital subscriber growth continued as last season of Game of Thrones begins
- Strong Warner Bros. revenue and operating income growth
Latin America Highlights
- 93,000 Mexico wireless net adds
Xandr Highlights
- Advertising revenues grew by 26.4% largely due to the AppNexus acquisition
Consolidated Financial Results
AT&T's consolidated revenues for the first quarter totaled $44.8 billion versus $38.0 billion in the year-ago quarter, up 17.8%, primarily due to the Time Warner acquisition. Declines in legacy wireline services, Vrio, wireless equipment and domestic video were more than offset by the addition of WarnerMedia, domestic wireless services and Xandr. Operating expenses were $37.6 billion versus $31.8 billion in the year-ago quarter, an increase of about $5.8 billion due to the Time Warner acquisition and higher commission amortization from adopting new accounting standards last year, partially offset by lower wireless equipment costs and cost efficiencies.
Operating income was $7.2 billion versus $6.2 billion in the year-ago quarter, primarily due to the Time Warner acquisition, with operating income margin of 16.1% versus 16.3%. When adjusting for amortization, merger- and integration-related expenses and other items, operating income was $9.6 billion versus $7.5 billion in the year-ago quarter, and operating income margin was 21.4% versus 19.7% in the year-ago quarter due to the acquisition of Time Warner.
First-quarter net income attributable to AT&T was $4.1 billion, or $0.56 per diluted share, versus $4.7 billion, or $0.75 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Adjusting for $0.30, which includes merger-amortization costs, merger- and integration-related expenses, a non-cash actuarial loss on benefit plans and other items, earnings per diluted share was $0.86 compared to an adjusted $0.85 in the year-ago quarter.
Cash from operating activities was $11.1 billion, and capital expenditures were $5.2 billion. Capital investment – which consists of capital expenditures plus cash payments for vendor financing – totaled $6.0 billion, which includes about $800 million of cash payments for vendor financing. Free cash flow — cash from operating activities minus capital expenditures — was $5.9 billion for the quarter.
