By Katherine Hamilton
AT&T recorded higher sales in the fiscal fourth quarter, boosted by an increases in revenue at its wireless and consumer businesses.
The telecommunications company on Wednesday posted a profit of $4.2 billion, or 53 cents a share, in the most recently ended quarter, compared with $4.4 billion, or 56 cents a share, a year earlier.
Stripping out certain one-time items, adjusted per-share earnings were 52 cents, ahead of the 46 cents anticipated by analysts, according to FactSet.
Revenue rose 3.6%, to $33.5 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet forecast revenue of $32.87 billion.
The sales growth was driven by higher revenue in the company's mobility, consumer-wireline and Mexico businesses, and partially offset by its business-wireline segment.
Business-wireline revenue fell 7.5% due to declines in legacy and transitional services, which include telephone service. Meanwhile, mobility sales grew 5.3% and consumer-wireline sales advanced 2.9%.
The Dallas company expects to close its acquisition of Lumen's mass-markets fiber business and wireless-spectrum licenses in early 2026. The company agreed in August to buy the assets from EchoStar as part of a $23 billion deal.
AT&T said it expects the acquisition to have a positive impact on adjusted earnings growth, with a double-digit compound annual growth rate through 2028.
For the current 2026 fiscal year, AT&T said it expects adjusted earnings per share to be $2.25 to $2.35. The outlook anticipates that its Lumen acquisition will be modestly dilutive to adjusted earnings in 2026 and 2027, and will start being accretive in 2028.
AT&T plans to put the assets it acquires from Lumen in a subsidiary, and then sell partial ownership of the subsidiary to an equity partner, it said.
Write to Katherine Hamilton at katherine.hamilton@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
01-28-26 0644ET
