Telecommunications giant Verizon Communications boosted its yearly earnings outlook on Monday following an unexpected surge in wireless customer additions during the first three months of 2024.
The telecommunications company’s stock price jumped 3% during pre-market trading sessions.
Through strategic promotional campaigns, including enhanced incentives for customers switching from competitors such as AT&T and T-Mobile, Verizon successfully attracted new paying subscribers as part of its comprehensive effort to restore wireless division growth.
The company gained 55,000 new monthly postpaid wireless customers during the quarter, marking the first time in over ten years that Verizon posted net subscriber increases for a March-ending period.
Wall Street analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha had predicted the company would lose 81,809 wireless customers instead.
“We are beginning to reclaim our market leadership by putting the customer at the center of everything we do, reducing friction to increase loyalty and create genuine value,” Verizon CEO Dan Schulman said.
The telecommunications provider now anticipates its annual retail postpaid phone customer additions will fall within the higher range of its projected 750,000 to 1 million target.
Following a similar approach to AT&T, Verizon has emphasized promotional packages that combine high-speed internet services with wireless plans, designed to improve customer retention rates.
The company’s quarterly financial results include contributions from Frontier Communications following the completion of that acquisition on January 20.
Verizon reported total quarterly revenue of $34.4 billion, falling short of analyst projections of $34.84 billion according to LSEG data.
Wireless service revenue growth during the quarter was reduced by customer account credits related to a January network outage that persisted for approximately 10 hours, prompting Verizon to provide $20 credits to hundreds of thousands of affected customers.
The company has revised its adjusted earnings forecast for 2026 to between $4.95 and $4.99 per share, up from the previous projection of $4.90 to $4.95 per share.
First-quarter adjusted earnings reached $1.28 per share, exceeding analyst estimates of $1.20 per share.
