Shares of AT&T (T +4.30%) jumped more than 10% this past week, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.
The wireless carrier delivered an impressive quarterly financial report and issued a bullish long-term growth forecast.
Image source: AT&T.
AT&T is back to its winning ways
A focus on bundled offerings is helping AT&T attract more customers. The communications leader won 421,000 postpaid phone and 283,000 fiber subscribers in the fourth quarter.
During a conference call with analysts, CEO John Stankey said AT&T saw an upturn in the portion of its fiber customers that also subscribed to its wireless services.
"Our fiber convergence rate climbed 200 basis points year over year to 42%, which is our fastest annual increase since we began tracking this metric," Stankey said. "This is further evidence that where we have fiber, we win with fiber and 5G."
NYSE: T
Key Data Points
Moreover, AT&T's postpaid churn rate -- an important metric of account cancellations -- came in at less than 1%. Investors were happy to see that the wireless giant was also doing an admirable job of retaining its existing customers, despite the promotional activity of rivals like Verizon and T-Mobile.
More cash for shareowners
In all, AT&T's convergence-based strategy helped it generate $16.6 billion in free cash in 2024. The telecom expects that figure to grow to more than $21 billion by 2028.
AT&T intends to pass much of that cash on to shareholders. Its stock currently sports a 4.2% dividend yield. The company's board of directors also approved a new $10 billion stock buyback program.
