AT&T Misses on Revenue in Fourth Quarter Financial Results

Telecom giant AT&T just released its financial results for the fourth quarter and it was a miss.

The company reported $47.99 billion in revenue while analysts had been expecting $48.5 billion. Adjusted earnings per share at 86 cents was in line with expectations.

Revenue is up 15.2 percent year over year and is most likely contributed to AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner.

“Our top priority for 2018 and 2019 is reducing our debt and I couldn’t be more pleased with how we closed the year. In 2018, we generated record free cash flow while investing at near-record levels. Our dividend payout as a percent of free cash flow was 46% for the quarter and 60% for the year, allowing us to increase the dividend for the 35th consecutive year,” stated AT&T chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson. “This momentum will carry us into 2019 allowing us to continue reducing our debt while investing in the business and continuing our strong record for paying dividends.”

WarnerMedia results were impressive at Warner Bros with overall revenue in the segment jumping 6% to $9.2 billion. HBO’s total revenue was flat at $1.7 billion and DirecTV posted subscriber losses of 403,000, ending with 19.2 million subscribers in 2018, a decrease of 6% compared to the year earlier.

AT&T added 134,000 postpaid phone subscribers over the quarter which was also below what analysts had expected.

Disclaimer: We have no position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) and have not been compensated for this article.