Yahoo Finance Will Modest Top-Line Growth Buoy Verizon's (VZ) Q1 Earnings?
Verizon Communications Inc. VZ is scheduled to report first-quarter 2024 results before the opening bell on Apr 22. In the last reported quarter, the telecommunication service provider beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a penny.
The company is expected to have recorded higher aggregate revenues year over year owing to a healthy momentum in the core wireless business despite a challenging macroeconomic environment.
Factors at Play
During the first quarter, Verizon deployed more than 130,000 open RAN (Radio Access Network) capable radios, including massive MIMO radios. The deployment of a cloud-native, container-based, virtualized architecture has led to increased flexibility, scalability and cost efficiency across its network.
Furthermore, Verizon's early adoption of Virtualized Radio Access Network serves as a precursor to O-RAN integration. By virtualizing core network functions and baseband units, Verizon has laid a robust foundation for future deployment flexibility and rapid integration of services. These are likely to be reflected in the upcoming quarterly results.
The company is offering various mix-and-match pricing in wireless and home broadband plans that have historically led to increased adoption of 5G devices and premium unlimited plans. In addition to various bundle plans for varied streaming services, Verizon offers customers greater control and flexibility over their preferred content selections, allowing them to pay only for what they want. This is likely to have translated into healthy customer additions and higher revenues from the Consumer segment. Our estimate for revenues from the Consumer segment is pegged at $25,212 million, up from $24,857 recorded in first-quarter 2023.
In the quarter, Verizon joined forces with Jobber to launch an all-in-one solution for small and midsized home service businesses. With the preloaded Jobber app, the Field Management Tablet Plus solution is likely to eliminate the time-consuming task of loading software applications on a device-by-device basis. The partnership is expected to be budget-friendly for small businesses as they can receive a single combined bill from Verizon and cut on the cost. By implementing the Field Management Tablet Plus, which comes preloaded with Verizon Mobile Device Management, businesses can manage tablet deployment and improve their security policies.
During the first quarter, Xerox Holdings Corporation opted to deploy Verizon’s Network as a Service solutions (NaaS) across 300 business locations to upgrade its IT infrastructure. Verizon NaaS brings greater agility and flexibility to the enterprise’s IT framework by mixing virtual and on-site assets. This digital-first integrated solution brings more transparency and predictability to operations, enabling businesses to make better decisions across their network functionalities.
Verizon also strengthened its position in the wireless equipment landscape by expanding its presence in the automobile sector with the launch of its Reveal EV (Electronic Vehicle) capabilities along with cutting-edge electronic tools in Europe. The company has teamed up with NextEra Mobility to allow seamless integration of data from Verizon Connect Reveal into NextEra Mobility’s software.
The electrification procedure is likely to assist customers in better understanding and deploying EV strategies, including total cost of ownership analysis and infrastructure planning. All these are likely to have translated into incremental revenues in the Business segment. Our estimate for revenues from the Business segment is pegged at $7,517 million, up from $7,494 million a year ago.
However, adverse foreign currency translations, infrastructure investments and high operating costs for 5G deployments are likely to have led to soft margins in the quarter. Moreover, the promotional offers and lucrative discounts are expected to have weighed on margins. In addition, the company’s wireline division is struggling with persistent losses in access lines owing to competitive pressure from the voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP) service providers and aggressive triple-play (voice, data and video) offerings by cable companies.
Verizon also recorded high capital expenditures for the launch and continued build-out of its 5G Ultra-Wideband network, deployment of significant fiber assets across the country and Intelligent Edge Network architecture upgrades.
For the March quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pegged at $33,377 million. It reported revenues of $32,912 million in the year-ago quarter. The consensus estimate for adjusted earnings per share stands at $1.12, which suggests a decline from the year-ago tally of $1.20.
Earnings Whispers
Our proven model does not predict an earnings beat for Verizon for the first quarter. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the chances of an earnings beat. This is not the case here.
Earnings ESP: Earnings ESP, which represents the difference between the Most Accurate Estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate, is -0.03%. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.
Verizon Communications Inc. Price and EPS Surprise
Verizon Communications Inc. price-eps-surprise | Verizon Communications Inc. Quote
Zacks Rank: Verizon has a Zacks Rank #3.
Stocks to Consider
Here are some companies you may want to consider, as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this season:
Qualcomm Incorporated QCOM is set to release quarterly numbers on May 1. It has an Earnings ESP of +6.15% and a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
The Earnings ESP for Silicon Motion Technology Corporation SIMO is +5.96% and it carries a Zacks Rank of 2. The company is scheduled to report quarterly numbers on May 2.
The Earnings ESP for Meta Platforms, Inc. META is +3.26% and it carries a Zacks Rank of 2. The company is scheduled to report quarterly numbers on Apr 24.
Stay on top of upcoming earnings announcements with the Zacks Earnings Calendar.
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