(Reuters) – AT&T Inc reported quarterly revenue that fell shy of Wall Street estimates, sending its shares down about 1 percent after the close of regular trading.
The AT&T logo is seen on a monitor on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S. June 13, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid – RC15AF64CE90
After a six-week trial, the second-largest U.S. carrier by subscribers won court approval last month to close its $85 billion acquisition of media company Time Warner Inc and began bundling the content it gains from the deal with new wireless plans in an effort to drive subscriber growth.
A federal appeals court last week approved the U.S. Justice Department’s request for an expedited schedule to appeal the Time Warner ruling on antitrust concerns.
Time Warner and other merger costs were $321 million in the second quarter when the trial took place.
Total operating revenue fell about 2 percent to $38.99 billion, missing analysts’ average estimate of $39.39 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The Dallas company’s second-quarter revenue included the impact of an accounting change, AT&T said.
Net income attributable to the company rose to $5.1 billion, or 81 cents per share, in the quarter ended June 30 from $3.92 billion, or 63 cents per share, a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, the company earned 91 cents per share. Analysts had expected adjusted earnings per share of 85 cents.
AT&T added a net 46,000 postpaid mobile phone subscribers in the second quarter. Analysts on average were expecting net adds of 14,000, according to financial and data analytics firm FactSet.
Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Lisa Shumaker