Telecommunications services provider AT&T Inc. (T) on Wednesday reported a 29.9% rise in its second-quarter profit, helped by revenue growth, mainly in its wireless business. On an adjusted basis, the Dallas, Texas-based company's earnings per share came in line with analysts' forecast.
For the second quarter, the company's net income was $3.77 billion, or $0.63 per share, higher than $2.90 billion, or $0.47 per share, last year. On adjusted basis, the company posted net income of $4.5 billion, or $0.76 per share, up from $4.3 billion, or $0.70 per share, in the year-ago quarter. Analysts expected earnings of $0.76 per share for the quarter.
The company noted that adjusted earnings for the second quarter of 2008 excluded noncash, pretax amortization costs related to acquisitions totaling $1.2 billion or $0.13 per share. Adjusted results for the second quarter of 2007 excluded pretax cash merger-related integration costs of $324 million or $0.03 per share, noncash, pretax merger-related costs of $1.7 billion, or $0.18 per share, and merger-related directory accounting impact of $187 million, or $0.02 per share.
Quarterly total operating revenues increased 4.7% to $30.86 billion from $29.48 billion in the comparable quarter last year. Analysts projected revenue of $31.15 billion for the quarter.
Total wireless revenues increased 15.8% to $12.0 billion, and wireless service revenues, which exclude handset and accessory sales, grew 14.8% to $11 billion.
AT&T's second-quarter net gain in total wireless subscribers exceeded 1.3 million, down by 123,000 from the second quarter of 2007 and up by 38,000 from the first quarter of this year.
Voice revenues were $9.52 billion, down 8.3% from $10.38 billion a year ago. Data revenues rose 5.4% to $2.5 billion, reflecting continued strong adoption of services such as Internet and data access, e-mail and messaging. Directory revenues totaled $1.38 billion, a 19.7% rise from $1.16 billion in the same quarter last year.
For the six-month period, the company earned $7.23 billion, or $1.21 per share, compared with $5.75 billion, or $0.92 per share, a year ago. Sales reached $61.61 billion, a 5.4% rise from $58.45 billion in the previous year.
Among others in the sector, Qwest Communications International Inc. (Q) is slated to announce its second-quarter earnings on August 6. Analysts forecast earnings of $0.10 per share in the quarter on revenues of $3.40 billion.
Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) also is scheduled to release its second-quarter results on August 6. Analysts are of the view that the company will earn $0.03 per share in the quarter on revenues of $9.17 billion.
Meanwhile, Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) is expected to earn $0.65 per share on revenues of $24.19 billion when it announces its second-quarter results on July 28.
T is trading at $32.48, up $0.66, on a volume of 2.21 million shares.
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