VZ - AT&T falls as CFO says Q2 subscriber adds likely to be below estimates

2023-06-20 08:50:21 ET

AT&T ( NYSE: T ) shares slipped around 1% in pre-market trading on Tuesday as the company's CFO said new phone subscribers during the second-quarter would come in below Wall Street's forecast.

Speaking at a Bank of America Conference, AT&T ( T ) CFO Pascal Desroches said the Dallas-based telecom giant sees new phone customers in the range of about 300,000, well below the 476,000 that Wall Street analysts were forecasting.

Following Desroches' comments, shares of Verizon ( VZ ) and T-Mobile ( TMUS ) fell in sympathy.

However, Desroches added that AT&T ( T ) is on track to meet or exceed its goal of generating $16B in free cash flow this year, adding that free cash has accelerated throughout the year.

The finance chief said there were "massive opportunities" to take additional costs out of AT&T's structure.

AT&T ( T ) is slated to report second-quarter results next month and a consensus of analysts estimate the company will earn 62 cents per share on $30.01B in revenue.

In addition, Desroches seemed to squash rumors from earlier this month that Amazon ( AMZN ) is looking into adding a mobile service for its Prime customers. The 56-year-old Desroches said the wireless industry did not have any incentives to work with Amazon.

Amazon has reportedly held talks with Verizon ( VZ ), T-Mobile US ( TMUS ) and Dish Network ( DISH ) to get the lowest possible wholesale prices, which could let the tech giant offer Prime members wireless plans for $10 per month or possibly for free.

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This story has been updated to include additional comments from the conference.

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