AT&T Q3 Earnings Preview: Can Subscriber Growth Continue After Strong Q2 Performance?

AT&T Inc (NYSE:T) shares are trading lower by roughly 1% to $21.55 Tuesday. Traders and investors are also watching for the company’s third-quarter earnings report, which is confirmed for Wednesday’s pre-market session.

According to analyst consensus estimates for the third quarter, AT&T is expected to report EPS of 57 cents on revenue of $30.44 billion.

What To Know: Investors will be keen to see if AT&T can deliver on its guidance for the full fiscal year, which includes wireless service revenue growth in the 3% range and broadband revenue growth of more than 7%.

The company in its second-quarter earnings release reiterated its expectations for adjusted EPS of $2.15 to $2.25 for the year and free cash flow in the range of $17 billion to $18 billion.

In the second quarter, AT&T reported operating revenues of $29.8 billion, a slight year-over-year decline of 0.4% that narrowly missed analyst expectations of $29.9 billion.

Despite the revenue miss, the company's adjusted EPS of 57 cents was in line with estimates, providing some stability for investors, and leading to a post-earnings stock price gain.

AT&T's Mobility segment, which continues to be a growth engine for the company, added 997,000 wireless net subscribers in the second quarter, a significant beat over estimates. This included 419,000 postpaid phone net additions, which comfortably surpassed analyst expectations of 279,000.

The telecom giant's strategy to target budget-conscious consumers appears to be paying off, as postpaid churn improved ...