This is a big week for the three wireless carriers known in the U.S. as, well, the "Big 3." That would be T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T. During the days when John Legere was CEO of T-Mobile, he referred to AT&T and Verizon as "Dumb and Dumber," from the movie title. Which one was "Dumb," and which one was "Dumber?" While the executive never made this clear, most believe that AT&T was "Dumb" and the "Dumber" moniker belonged to Verizon.
AT&T and T-Mobile will report Q3 earnings this week
Tomorrow, October 22nd, before the market opens at 9:30 am ET, AT&T will release its third quarter earnings. Thursday morning, it will be T-Mobile's turn to release its third-quarter numbers. Verizon will release its Q3 earnings on October 29th; originally the plan called for the nation's largest carrier to report its third quarter results today.
So, what will AT&T reveal tomorrow? According to analysts, AT&T is expected to announce that it earned 54 cents a share during the three-month period from July through September. Should the company meet the analysts' estimates, it would be an 11% increase from last year's Q3 earnings. AT&T's shares have risen 14% this year, matching the gains achieved by the S&P 500. However, over the last month, the stock has declined 11.18%.
CEO and president Mike Sievert will be leaving T-Mobile on November 1st. | Image credit-T=Mobile
Analysts are looking for T-Mobile to report an 8% decline in its bottom line for the third quarter to $2.40 per share. T-Mobile's stock is up 5% this year. The shares hit their 52-week high of $276.49 on March 3, 2025, but have declined 17.1% since.
Some analysts say that Verizon's dividend is at risk of getting cut
When Verizon reports its Q3 numbers on October 29th, Wall Street expects the company to report earnings to be flat at $1.19 a share on a year-over-year basis. There is concern among some Verizon investors that the company's annual dividend of $2.76 is under attack. The shares carry a yield of 6.85% with a quarterly payout of 69 cents per share. The carrier's new CEO, Dan Schulman, who replaced Hans Vestberg October 6th in a surprising move, could decide to cut the dividend.
In a report written for JPMorgan clients, Sebastiano Petti, an analyst for the global securities firm, wrote that Schulman will seek to increase the growth of Verizon's fiber footprint. This would require Verizon to hike its capital expenditures, which means that the carrier will spend more money. As a result, Petti wrote that JPMorgan would not be surprised if "Verizon suspends dividend growth to prioritize investment in growth initiatives and/or discretionary share buybacks."
Which of the Big 3 carriers is your favorite?
Verizon
10%
T-Mobile
70%
AT&T
20%
A similar forecast for Verizon was made by TD Cowen analyst Gregory Williams. He told his clients interested in Verizon shares that "2026 will see heavy capital spending and operating expenses to expand and integrate the Frontier businesses." He also says Verizon could target its dividend. "The new board member CEO seems like a stopgap we suspect could possibly be the fall guy for a dividend cut," Willams stated. During 2025, Verizon shares are up 1.5%.
Craig Moffett works as an analyst for MoffettNathanson, an independent equity research firm focusing on the Technology, Media, and Telecom (TMT) sectors. Discussing the CEO changes at Verizon and T-Mobile, Moffett wrote, "We'll be looking for signs of strategy shifts at Verizon or T-Mobile. Both have new CEOs. The transition at T-Mobile has been orderly and planned, but the transition at Verizon was completely unexpected. This will be the first opportunity for Dan to put his stamp on Verizon's strategic direction."
Recommended Stories
For the third quarter, analysts estimate that T-Mobile will add 840,000 postpaid phone subscribers, with AT&T adding 332,000 and Verizon tacking on 47,000. The net postpaid phone subscriber count is arguably the most important quarterly metric that wireless analysts look at during each report.
RBC Capital analyst Jonathan Atkin wrote, "Q3 will be Mike Sievert's last quarter as CEO. We do not expect that he is leaving the company on a weaker footing."
"Iconic Phones" is coming this Fall!
Good news everyone! Over the past year we've been working on an exciting passion project of ours and we're thrilled to announce it will be ready to release in just a few short months.
"Iconic Phones: Revolution at Your Fingertips" is a must-have coffee table book for every tech-head that will bring you on a journey to relive the greatest technological revolution of the 21st century. For more details, simply follow the link below!
Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.
A discussion is a place, where people can voice their opinion, no matter if it
is positive, neutral or negative. However, when posting, one must stay true to the topic, and not just share some
random thoughts, which are not directly related to the matter.
Things that are NOT allowed:
Off-topic talk - you must stick to the subject of discussion
Offensive, hate speech - if you want to say something, say it politely
Spam/Advertisements - these posts are deleted
Multiple accounts - one person can have only one account
Impersonations and offensive nicknames - these accounts get banned
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts:
New accounts created within the last 24 hours may experience restrictions on how frequently they can
post or comment.
These limits are in place as a precaution and will automatically lift.
Moderation is done by humans. We try to be as objective as possible and moderate with zero bias. If you think a
post should be moderated - please, report it.
Have a question about the rules or why you have been moderated/limited/banned? Please,
contact us.
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed:
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts: