AT & T misses revenue estimates like WarnerMedia, wireless device disappoint
(Reuters) – AT & T Inc missed Wall Street quarterly estimates on Wednesday, hit by lower-than-expected sales in the WarnerMedia unit, and the wireless business, where it has cut prices to attract customers.
WarnerMedia, which includes Turner and premium TV channel HBO, reported revenue of $ 8.38 billion in the quarter, which was not rated by analysts' estimates of $ 8.45 billion, according to IBIN data from Refinitiv.
AT&T is attempting to reduce the dependence on the phone business by expanding to media content through its acquisition of Time Warner of $ 85 billion.
The company added a net 80,000 phone subscribers, surprisingly at analysts' forecast of loss of 44,000 subscribers as it cut the price of plans to fight strong competition in the saturated US market.
But that meant that Mobility, AT & Ts's largest segment, which includes its wireless business, had sales of $ 17.57 billion in the quarter, missing estimates of $ 17.65 bills on.
Postponed telephone breach, or number of customer errors, was 0.93 percent in the first quarter, up from 0.84 percent the year before.
AT & Ts's entertainment segment, which includes satellite television provider DirecTV, has been continually declining. Revenue from the segment fell almost 1 percent to $ 11.33 billion.
On Tuesday, Rival Verizon Communications Inc increased its forecast for 2019 and beat Wall Street quarterly profit estimates, even though it lost more subscribers than analysts had expected.
Net income due to AT&T fell to $ 4.1 billion, or 56 cents per share, from $ 4.66 billion, or 75 cents per share the year before.
Excluding items, the company achieved 86 cents per share, in line with estimates.
Total revenue increased nearly 18 percent to $ 44.83 billion, but was not expected at $ 45.11 billion.
Shares in the company were down around 1 percent before the clock.
(Reporting of Akanksha Rana in Bengaluru and Sheila Dang in New York; Editing of Shailesh Cubes and Anil D & 39; Silva)
