AT&T reported second-quarter earnings on Tuesday that missed Wall Street expectations on revenue but surpassed them on an earnings-per-share basis.
The telecommunications company said in its quarterly filing that diluted earnings per share were 91 cents, above analysts’ consensus expectations of 85 cents per share, according to forecasts on Yahoo Finance. However, revenue for the second quarter was $39 billion, below the $39.4 billion analysts on Wall Street projected.
AT&T’s stock dropped 1.2 percent to $31.30 per share in after-hours trading.
This is the first quarterly earnings since AT&T completed its $84.5 billion acquisition of Time Warner, though it’s still being appealed by the U.S. Department of Justice. AT&T adds a bevy of assets with the deal, including HBO, CNN, and Warner Bros., as the corporate battle for content ramps up. The earnings include 16 days of WarnerMedia results.
AT&T added 342,000 DirecTV Now subscribers, offsetting a loss of 262,000 traditional TV customers. DirecTV Now hit a total of 1.8 million customers for its streaming service, as AT&T works to compete with powerhouses like Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu.
The Dallas-based company highlighted “Ocean’s 8,” one of the Warner Bros. films released during the quarter, for grossing more than $250 million internationally. AT&T also pointed to HBO’s 108 Emmy nominations, second only to Netflix, in its release.