Verizon (VZ) Slips as Sandy Hit Q4 Results; Margins Pressured on Smartphone Sales
Revenue in the quarter was $30.05 billion, from $28.44 billion in the same period last year and expectations for $29.75 billion.
Net income inclusive of a seven-cent reduction from to Superstorm Sandy was 38 cents per share, versus the consensus of 52 cents per share and 52 cents reported in Q411.
Notably, Wireless segment operating EBITDA margin slipped 80 basis points to 41.4 percent as sales of smartphones continued to accelerate. Services revs rose 9.5 percent to $20 billion. Verizon also noted that, "retail postpaid ARPA (average revenue per account) grew 6.6 percent over fourth-quarter 2011, to $146.80 per month."
Verizon hit record-hit net retail postpaid sub adds of 2.1 million. Total retail connections were 98.2 million at the end of 20012, up 6.6 percent from last year.
Smartphones made up 58 percent of retail postpaid adds, from 53 percent the prior quarter.
Wireline continued seeing an ebb in growth, with revs down 1.5 percent to about $10 billion. ARPU rose 9.5 percent to $105.63 with FiOS ARPU exceeding $150. Verizon added 144,000 net new FiOS Internet connections and 134,000 net new FiOS Video connections in fourth-quarter 2012. Verizon had a total of 5.4 million FiOS Internet and 4.7 million FiOS Video connections at the end of the quarter, representing year-over-year increases of 12.6 percent and 13.3 percent, respectively.
Broadband connections rose 1.4 percent to 8.8 million for FY12 while revs increased 3.1 percent in the year.
"We delivered a total return of 13.2 percent to shareholders in 2012, and we enter 2013 ready to accelerate the momentum we've achieved and create significant shareholder value in the years to come," commented CEO Lowell McAdam.
Shares are down two percent in early trading Tuesday.