AT&T Inc. Third Quarter Earnings Preview

The article takes a look at what the earnings whispers have to say about AT&T Inc.’s upcoming quarterly results

AT&T Inc. is scheduled to report its earnings for the third quarter of fiscal year 2015 on Thursday October 29 after market close. As per earningswhispers.com, the telecom company will beat the analysts’ expectations polled by Bloomberg. The earnings whisper expects the company to post earnings of 69 cents per share, surpassing analysts’ estimates by $0.01. The analysts are expecting earnings of approximately 68 cents.

In the previous quarter, AT&T surpassed revenue and earnings estimates. The company was in a position to report $33.01 billion in revenue with a slight upbeat of nearly 0.04%. The analysts were expecting roughly $33 billion in revenue. On the contrary, earnings per share for the third quarter came in at $0.63 surpassing analysts’ expectations by 8.49% margin.

In the comparable quarter previous year, third quarter fiscal year 2015, the company missed on both EPS and revenues estimates. Revenue for the period came in at $32.95 missing by a slight margin of around 0.75%. Earnings per share for the period amounted to $0.63, while analysts believed the EPS to be around $0.63 cents.

“We now have integrated solutions that are unlike any competitor in the market,” Randall Stephenson, chairman and CEO of the company said in a statement “With our national wireless and video capabilities, as well as our extensive broadband network, we now have assets that make us a unique competitor and the first scaled, fully-integrated U.S. service provider."

The Dallas based company has a satisfactory record in beating analyst revenue and earnings estimates. In the preceding eight quarters, AT&T has managed to surpass earnings expectations 5 times in the past eight quarters. On the other hand, the company missed revenues four times in the past eight quarters.

On the event of the announcement of the financial earnings, analysts at Argus Research has provided the highest target price of $42 along with a Buy rating, while HSBC has assigned the lowest price target of $30 while reaffirming its bearish outlook on AT&T stock.

Out of 40 analysts who cover the company’s stock, 19 gave it a buy, while 18 gave it a hold. The twelve month average target price is $37.77, reflecting an upside potential of around 12.3% over the current share price of $33.81 in the trading session.

AT&T stock news reveals that the stock was up 0.03% to $33.75 at market close on Friday October 24. The company has 52 weeks high and low of $36.45 and $30.97, respectively.