AT&T Inc. (T) on Thursday reported a loss for the fourth quarter that narrowed from last year, helped primarily by lower expenses and a slight revenue growth. Revenue for the quarter topped Wall Street estimates as the company sold a good number of smartphones and ramped up its postpaid subscriber base, partly offset by lower margin.
In fiscal year 2013, AT&T expects total revenue growth to exceed 2 percent with strength in wireless service and wireline consumer revenues, and earnings per share are anticipated to be upper-single digits or higher.
"Looking ahead, our key growth platforms — mobile data, U-verse and strategic business services — all have good momentum with a lot of headroom," said CEO Randall Stephenson.
AT&T sold million 10.2 smartphones in the quarter. The company's wireless revenues for the quarter, including equipment sales, grew 5.7 percent from last year to $17.6 billion. Wireless operating margin dropped to 14.5 percent from 15.5 percent.
AT&T posted a net increase in total wireless subscribers of 1.1 million during the quarter. AT&T's rival Verizon Wireless (VZ) reported higher subscriber additions of 2.1 million in its latest quarter, even as the company reported a wider loss owing to pension-related charges.
AT&T's postpaid wireless average monthly revenues per subscriber or ARPU increased 1.9 percent to $64.98 for the quarter, even as it saw a lower churn rate.
Wireline revenues for the quarter were down 0.5 percent from last year to $14.9 billion. Total U-verse subscribers (TV and high speed Internet) reached 8.0 million in the fourth quarter.
Overall, the Dallas, Texas-based company reported fourth-quarter revenues of $32.6 billion, up 0.2 percent from the prior year.
Excluding the divested advertising solutions business unit as well as the impact of Superstorm Sandy, consolidated revenues for the quarter grew 2.8 percent. Analysts on consensus estimated revenues of $32.22 billion for the quarter.
The company reported fourth-quarter net loss of $3.86 billion or $0.68 per share, compared with net loss of $6.68 billion or $1.12 per share last year, when the company included charges related to its failed bid for T-Mobile USA.
Excluding items, the company recorded earnings of $0.44 per share, compared with $0.40 a year ago.
Analysts on consensus expected earnings of $0.46 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items.
Total operating expenses for the quarter were $38.5 billion, compared with $41.5 billion last year, and includes earlier announced non-cash pension charges of about $10 billion.
AT&T in November revealed plans to invest $14 billion in the next three years to ramp up its wireless and wireline IP broadband networks. The company also estimates capital expenditure of $21 billion for each of the next three years.
The company last Tuesday agreed to acquire the U.S. retail wireless operations of Atlantic Tele-Network Inc. (ATNI) for $780 million in a bid to enhance its wireless coverage in rural areas.
AT&T closed Thursday at $33.78 on a volume of 23 million shares on the NYSE. In after hours, the stock gained 0.15%.
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