As the late great John Lennon once sang, "And so this is Christmas, and what have you done?" Verizon is going to tell us what it was up to for the October-December period this year when it releases its fourth quarter earnings report on Friday, Jan. 30. At the same time, the telecom giant will announce its full-year numbers for all of 2025. During the year, Verizonlost its longtime spot as the largest wireless carrier in the U.S. to a surging T-Mobile.
Verizon topped Wall Street's earnings per share forecast for the last four quarters
Wall Street analysts, some of whom get paid obscene amounts of money to guess wrong, are expecting Verizon to report a Q4 profit of $1.06 per share which would be a 3.6% decline from the $1.10 earnings per share that the carrier reported for last year's fourth quarter. But the company could top estimates as it has a nice little trend going. For the last four quarters, Verizon's earnings per share have surpassed the consensus estimate made by analysts. For example, for Verizon's 2025 third quarter, the carrier reported net profits of $1.21 per share topping analysts' forecast by 1.7%.
For the full year of 2025, Wall Street predicts that Verizon will report a profit of $4.68 per share. That would be a 2% gain from the $4.59 that the wireless provider earned in 2024. Next year, the calculator-owning analysts say that Verizon's bottom line for all of 2026 will be $4.82 per share.
What will Verizon report for the most important category?
Now those are important numbers for Verizon to release, but if you're a long-time PhoneArena reader, you know that I call the postpaid phone net adds the most important number released quarterly. That's because it tells you whether a carrier is able to grow the number of higher-priced lines owned by its most stable customers. Analysts expect Verizon to show a seasonal bump (50,000 to 150,000) in postpaid phone net adds for Q4 2025 compared to last year's Q4 addition of 568,000. For the full year 2025, analysts see Verizon reporting flat to negative numbers in this category. Last year Verizon added approximately 900,000 net new postpaid phone lines.
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Verizon's shares have been moving sideways with a 52-week high of $47.35 and a 52-week low of $37.59. With markets closed for Christmas, Verizon will start trading tomorrow at $40.32. With an annual dividend of $2.76, the stock carries a yield of 6.85% which gives you a decent return while waiting for the shares to rise in value. It also gives you a little cushion against a decline in the stock.
Verizon recently installed Dan Schulman as its new CEO and he has stated that Verizon will start becoming more consumer friendly. Considering that the carrier never was known for being people pleasing, long-time customers are looking forward to seeing exactly what the executive has in mind. Things aren't adding up though, because Verizon recently laid off 13,000 workers and a huge reduction in head count usually doesn't jive with a company becoming more friendly to its customers.
Most don't see new CEO Schulman putting Verizon's customers first
Not too many PhoneArena readers believe that Schulman has what it takes to make Verizon more customer friendly. In the poll that we ran about two weeks ago, we asked, "Will Schulman succeed in changing Verizon's culture to "customer first"? Of the better than 1,700 who responded, a whopping 69% said that Verizon will be unable to put customers first because putting customers first isn't in Verizon's DNA. The remaining 31% felt that Schulman will make Verizon customer-friendly.
Comparing the shares of T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon over the last five years. | Image credit-Bing
Most Verizon customers would love to see Verizon's first step in putting the customer first be a price cut. We also suggested that Verizon assure its customers that it has no plans to close its retail stores, lay off reps, and become a digital wireless provider like T-Mobile appears to be transitioning to. Besides, Verizon subscribers interested in using an app to manage their accounts can sign up with Verizon's own Visible MVNO if they are so inclined.
How Verizon can differentiate itself from T-Mobile and AT&T
In order to differentiate themselves from T-Mobile and AT&T, Schulman should announce that Verizon will have a zero-tolerance policy toward reps who are "cramming" their customers by adding without consent new lines, cases, screen protectors, device insurance and more to an invoice. Along with this, Verizon could take away the reason for reps to engage in this type of behavior by announcing that it won't require its reps to meet certain monthly metrics or performance goals that lead the sales staff to take illegal and unethical actions to keep their jobs.
Can Verizon take advantage of T-Mobile's vulnerability?
No. Verizon doesn't know how to do it.
66.67%
Yes. T-Mobile is sinking fast.
33.33%
T-Mobile, thanks to the buggy T-Life app and plans to go digital, is the most vulnerable it has been in years, and a consumer-friendly Verizon could take advantage of this. Can Schulman pull this off? This year's Q4 and full year 2025 results won't give us any answer. But a year from now, when the carrier releases its 2026 Q4 and full-year figures, the stakes will be much higher.
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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.
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