Sales Erosion Wears Thin at SBC, AT&T

Wall Street showed its scorn for two big names in telecom Tuesday, as it surveyed a bleak landscape at erosion-scarred AT&T (T Quote) and SBC (SBC Quote).

First up was AT&T, the New York long-distance giant that has emerged as perhaps the most feckless participant in a years-long industrywide downhill sales slalom. The company surprised no one by noting a 16% decline in third-quarter revenue at its staggering consumer business. But observers were less than pleased with the quarter's 6% drop in business services revenue and the attending 2003 forecast for that once-stout unit. Worries about pricing pressure pushed AT&T down $1 to $20.07

Meanwhile, San Antonio local-phone leader SBC offered up its own soggy quarter, posting sharp drops in earnings and revenue from year-ago levels amid a worrisome decline in local access lines. Clutching at positive straws, the company noted the strong growth of its Cingular wireless venture and a companywide sequential sales rise in the latest period. But investors weren't impressed, sending the stock down 88 cents to $21.52. ...