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Updated: 21-Jul-25 12:04 ET
Verizon dials up a nice gain following earnings upside

Verizon (VZ +4.8%) is trading higher today after reporting its Q2 results this morning. This telecom giant reported EPS above expectations, which is a typical result for the company. What stands out is its revenue growth, which rose 5.2% yr/yr to $34.5 bln. This was nicely above expectations, and its strongest growth in the last 15 quarters.

  • Adjusted EPS narrowly beat expectations at $1.22, primarily due to strength in adjusted EBITDA, which grew 4.1% yr/yr to $12.8 bln. It beat out its Q1 record and marked the second consecutive quarter of growth that exceeded its expectations.
  • Revenue was driven by its market leading wireless service revenue and a more than 25% increase in wireless equipment revenue. Total wireless service revenue increased 2.2% yr/yr to 20.9 bln.
  • Although consumer postpaid phone net losses totaled 51,000, that is an improvement from 109,000 in the prior year period and measurably better than Q1. VZ still faces ongoing postpaid phone churn pressure, with a churn rate of 0.90%. On June 24, it launched initiatives to address the elevated churn, which includes building customer loyalty and leveraging AI.
  • There are a few highlights to focus on this quarter, including fixed wireless access and core prepaid ARPU. Fixed wireless access surpassed the 5 mln subscriber milestone, keeping VZ on track to achieve 8-9 mln subscribers by 2028. Additionally, VZ said that it has reached an inflection point on core prepaid ARPU (rose above $32) and expects it to positively contribute to wireless service revenue growth for the remainder of the year.
  • Given the strong adjusted EBITDA performance in the first half of the year, VZ has increased its full year guidance on adjusted EBITDA and EPS. VZ now guides for adjusted EBITDA growth of 2.5-3.5%, approximately a $125 mln increase at the midpoint. EPS guidance is now between 1-3% growth, up from 0-3%.

Overall, VZ delivered a strong quarter with healthy revenue growth and another record high adjusted EBITDA. The raised full-year guidance for EPS is also encouraging to investors. Looking ahead, AT&T (T +2.2%) and T-Mobile (TMUS +2.7%) are set to report Q2 results in the coming days and are ticking higher likely in sympathy with VZ's results. On a final note, a nice thing about VZ is that it has a frothy current dividend yield of 6.4%.

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