Verizon Nails Numbers, Fails to Impress
NEW YORK, (
) --
Verizon
(VZ) - Get Report
hit targets but investors found little reason to be jazzed.
The phone giant posted adjusted earnings of 56 cents a share on $26.9 billion in sales, which was directly in line with analysts' expectations.
The No.1 wireless shop added 1.5 million net new customers, but in that number was a mere 432,000 so-called postpaid customers, or subscribers with new contracts. Rival
AT&T
(T) - Get Report
reported Wednesday that it added 512,000 posted contract subscribers, thanks largely to the
Apple
(AAPL) - Get Report
.
Verizon, also like AT&T saw another big drop in the number of customer phone lines, its core business. In the first quarter, the total access line count fell 9.5% to 31.8 million.
The news comes as No.3 local phone player
Qwest
(Q)
agreed to a
$10.6 billion all-stock takeover
by regional telco
CenturyTel
(CTL) - Get Report
Thursday.
Verizon shares fell 69 cents, or 2%, to $28.87 in premarket trading Thursday.









