The Quarter in Brief
AT&T reported its third quarter of 2026, the three months to September 30, before the market opened on October 21. Revenue was $32.32 billion, up 5.3% from a year earlier. Reported earnings per share from continuing operations were $0.13, against $1.29 a year earlier, when a gain on the sale of AT&T's stake in DIRECTV lifted the figure. Adjusted earnings per share, the company's measure that leaves out items it considers non-operational or non-recurring, such as impairments, employee separation costs and the amortization of acquired intangible assets, were $0.65, up from $0.54.
Both headline figures were ahead of expectations: analysts had expected about $31.69 billion of revenue and adjusted earnings of about $0.60 a share, according to Financial Modeling Prep's consensus. What made the quarter different was a $2.6 billion non-cash impairment, a write-down of the book value of AT&T's Mexico wireless business, which it agreed on October 13 to sell. That charge, together with employee separation costs, took net income attributable to AT&T down to $891 million from $9.31 billion.