AT&T
The former Ms. Bell booked $13.9 billion in wireless segment revenue, up 8.2% year over year. Wireline revenue declined 4.6% over the same period. We've seen this pattern before:
Metric |
Q1 2010 |
Q4 2009 |
Q3 2009 |
Q2 2009 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Wireless revenue |
$13,897 mil. |
$13,838 mil. |
$13,654 mil. |
$13,245 mil. |
As a % of total |
45.3% |
44.8% |
44.3% |
43.1% |
Wireless operating income |
$4,169 mil. |
$3,420 mil. |
$3,359 mil. |
$3,151 mil. |
As a % of total |
69.4% |
70.4% |
62.3% |
57.2% |
Sources: Company press releases and Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's.
Data current as of April 21.
Below the surface, AT&T is profiting almost as much from data connections as it is voice connections. Revenue from wireless data improved by 29.8%, to $4.1 billion, which means data now accounts for roughly 30% of AT&T's wireless business.
Expect this ratio to grow. AT&T said that it activated 2.7 million iPhones during the quarter, the biggest data hog of them all. Historically, Apple's
Spread those clipped wings ...
Interestingly, despite all this good news, AT&T still reported lower net income due to a $995 million charge related to tax law changes enacted as part of President Obama's recently passed health-care plan. Excluding that $0.17 per share charge, AT&T reported $0.59 in per-share earnings, a healthy increase over last year's $0.53, and better than the $0.55 a share Wall Street was expecting.
Cash from operations fell by $700 million, but at $7.3 billion, there was more than enough for AT&T to fund $3.3 billion worth of expansion of its data network. This is crucial construction. Sprint Nextel
And yet, even with its still-clipped butterfly wings, AT&T is handling a massive amount of wireless data because of the iPhone and new handsets built on Google's
I like the trend and the better profit mix it creates. That's why I closed my profitable short of AT&T in Motley Fool CAPS earlier today. Wireless data's too big and important a business to bet against.
Which telecom would you buy today: AT&T, Verizon, Sprint Nextel, or a different one altogether? Discuss in the comments box below.