AT&T Posts Slight Q3 Miss, Sees 2015 Revenue Growth In Line

AT&T Inc. T missed third-quarter earnings expectations by a penny while revenue grew 2.5 percent in line with expectations, the company said Wednesday.

The Dallas-based telecommunications company also forecast 2014 revenue growth of 3 percent to 4 percent, in line with the Wall Street consensus.

In the extended session AT&T traded recently at $33.90 per share, down 1.7 percent.

Net income fell 21 percent to $3.06 billion, or $0.58 per share, from year-earlier profit of $3.81 billion, or $0.72 per share. Revenue grew to $32.96 billion, from $32.16 billion.

Adjusted income fell to $0.63 per share, from $0.66 a year ago.

Wall Street expected adjusted profit of $0.64 per share, on revenue of $33.24 billion.

AT&T's operating income margin narrowed to 16.4 percent from 19.2 percent, while its adjusted operating margin was 17.2 percent in the recent period.

Total wireless service revenue was flat in the third quarter at $15.4 billion, and wireless equipment revenue increased 44.3 percent to $2.9 billion as more customers chose equipment installment plans versus subsidized devices.

Wireline revenue fell 0.4 percent from a year earlier to $14.6 billion, including U-verse revenue which grew 23.8 percent from last year.

Revenue from business customers were $8.7 billion, down 2 percent versus the year-earlier quarter.