Verizon Earnings Edge Higher

By Chelsey Dulaney 

Verizon Communications Inc.'s profit edged in above Wall Street expectations in the second quarter, while its subscriber growth was again propped up by tablet additions.

Revenue narrowly missed expectations.

The wireless carrier said it added 1.1 mainstream wireless subscribers in the quarter, coming in above the 1.06 million net additions analysts at Wells Fargo had expected.

But Verizon leaned heavily on tablets for growth, continuing a recent trend for the industry, adding a net 852,000 tablets, above the 850,000 Wells Fargo had projected.

Verizon, the first big telecom company to report its earnings for the quarter, has faced tougher competition as rivals like T-Mobile US Inc. and Sprint Corp. have offered more generous deals and paid subscribers to switch.

Overall, Verizon posted earnings of $4.23 billion, or $1.04 a share, up from $4.21 billion, or $1.01 a share a year earlier. Revenue grew 2.4% to $32.22 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast $1.01 a share in earnings and $32.5 billion in revenue.

In the latest quarter, Verizon added a net 26,000 FiOS video subscribers and a net 72,000 FiOS Internet subscribers.

Verizon has been licensing programming aimed primarily at millennials and younger viewers ahead of the launch of its mobile video service later this year. Verizon's recent $4.4 billion acquisition of AOL Inc. was in part to support the advertising feature of its mobile video service.

Write to Chelsey Dulaney at [e-mail]

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