Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. rallied 1% in premarket trade Tuesday, as a revenue beat and a big expected benefit from tax-reform legislation helped offset a profit miss. Net earnings rose to $18.78 billion, or $4.56 a share, from $4.60 billion, or $1.10 a share, in the same period a year ago. Adjusted earnings per share, which included losses on special items and mark-to-market adjustments of pension and other benefit liabilities, came to 86 cents, which was below the FactSet consensus of 88 cents. Revenue rose to $34.0 billion from $32.34 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $33.2 billion. The telecommunications giant said its wireless business had a net increase of 1.2 million retail postpaid connections and net phone additions of 431,000. Total wireline revenue increased 0.1%, with total Fios revenue up 2.3%. For 2018, the company expects revenue to grow in the low-single-digit percentage range, while the FactSet consensus of $127.2 billion implies 1% growth over 2017 revenue of $126.03 billion. Verizon said tax-reform legislation will have a positive impact to cash flow from operations of about $3.5 billion to $4.0 billion, which will be used primarily to strengthen the balance sheet, but also for employee initiatives that will be announced later Tuesday. The stock has gained 2.0% over the past 12 months, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has climbed 32%.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
From:: Stock Market News