AT&T: quarterly profit tops Street view, shares rise

(CercleFinance.com) - AT&T's quarterly profit topped Wall Street estimates on Monday as the number 2 US wireless carrier lowered expenses and gained new subscribers.


AT&T - which has now completed the acquisition of media giant Time Warner - said consolidated revenues fell to 44.6 billion dollars in the third quarter, from 45.7 billion dollars in the third quarter of 2018.

Operating income was 7.9 billion dollars, compared to 7.3 billion dollars in the same period a year ago.

AT&T gained 101,000 US phone subscribers who pay a monthly bill in the past quarter, the most lucrative kind of customers.

Analysts had expected a loss of 172,000.

Including prepaid customers, it added a total of 255,000 phone subscribers in the third quarter.

AT&T's HBO unit - at the origin of the hit television series "Game of Thrones" and "The Sopranos" - saw its revenues rise by more than 10% over the quarter, on higher content sales and stable subscription revenues.

For 2020, AT&T said it expects to monetize 5 billion dollars to 10 billion dollars of non-core assets.

The telecoms company also plans to refresh its board, with one prospective new director to be considered at next Board meeting and another in 2020.

However, CEO transition is still not expected in 2020, it said.

The shares were up almost 5% in morning trading on Monday.

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