AT&T reports net profit of $5.9 B in the fourth quarter

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AT&T reports net profit of $5.9 B in the fourth quarter

The company reported net income of $5.9 billion, or 2 cents a share, roughly double the $2.8 billion, or 39 cents a share, that AT&T T reported in the year-prior quarter. AT&T s revenue declined to $39.9 billion from $42.3 billion, which the company said reflected the spinoff of its U.S. video business as well as lower wireless revenue. Analysts tracked by FactSet were modeling $40.6 billion. Shares are up 1.1% in premarket trading Thursday. Revenue for AT&T s communications unit increased to $28.2 billion from $27.2 billion. That included revenue from the company s mobility unit, which rose to $19.1 billion from $17.9 billion as AT&T benefited from higher service and equipment revenue. Within mobility, AT&T saw 1.22 million net additions, including 928,000 postpaid phone net additions. The company s postpaid phone churn was 0.72% in the quarter compared with 0.69% a year earlier, though AT&T said that churn improved when adjusted for the Keep America Connected program, through which telecommunications companies pledged to continue providing service to customers who had trouble paying their bills due to the pandemic. The WarnerMedia business saw revenue grow to $8.4 billion from $7.4 billion. WarnerMedia benefited from higher content revenue and saw a partial recovery from prior-year impacts of the pandemic, per its release. Subscription revenue increased to $4.0 billion from $3.5 billion, mainly reflecting traction for the HBO Max streaming service. AT&T anticipates that its full-year adjusted earnings per share will be at the high end of the low to mid-single digit growth range and the company said that it is on track with its free cash flow target, which is in the range of $26 billion. Shares of AT&T have declined 9.9% so far this year as the S&P 500 SPX has risen 20.8%.