Verizon beats by $0.03, reports revs just above consensus
Thursday, October 17, 2013 7:39:29 AM ET
Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.77 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.74; revenues rose 4.4% year/year to $30.28 bln vs the $30.15 bln consensus. Consolidated EBITDA grew 16.9% YoY to $11.3 billion; EBITDA margin expanded 400 bps to 37.3%. Cash flow from operating activities totaled $28.4 billion in the first nine months of 2013, a 14.7% YoY increase.
Wireless Financial Highlights •Total revenues were $20.4 billion in third-quarter 2013, up 7.2% year over year. Service revenues in the quarter totaled $17.5 billion, up 8.4% year over year. Retail service revenues grew 8.0% year over year, to $16.8 billion. •Retail postpaid ARPA (average revenue per account) increased 7.1% over third-quarter 2012, to $155.74 per month. •In third-quarter 2013, wireless operating income margin was 33.8%, compared with 31.8% in third-quarter 2012. Segment EBITDA margin on service revenues was 51.1%, up 110 basis points over third-quarter 2012. •Verizon Wireless is on track to deliver 49% to 50% segment EBITDA margin on service revenues for the full year. Through the first three quarters of 2013, segment EBITDA margin on service revenues was 50.4%, with Verizon Wireless maintaining margins of 49% or higher in five of the past six quarters. Wireless Operational Highlights •Verizon Wireless added 1.1 million net retail connections, including 927,000 retail postpaid net connections, in the third quarter. These additions exclude acquisitions and adjustments. The company expects customer growth to increase sequentially in the fourth quarter. •At the end of the third quarter, the company had 101.2 million retail connections -- a 5.5% increase year over year -- including 95.2 million retail postpaid connections. •Verizon Wireless had 35 million retail postpaid accounts at the end of the third quarter -- an average of 2.7 connections per account. Nearly 42% of retail postpaid accounts are now on a Share Everything Plan, which allows customers to share data among multiple devices. •At the end of the third quarter, smartphones accounted for more than 67% of the Verizon Wireless retail postpaid customer phone base, up from 64%at the end of second-quarter 2013. •Retail postpaid churn was 0.97% in the third quarter, up 6 basis points year over year. Retail churn was 1.28% in the third quarter, up 10 basis points year over year.