T-Mobile Stock Gains on Solid Earnings, Free Cash Flow Forecast

The stock rose 0.8% to $142.27 after the market opened on Wednesday.

Wireless carriers always fight for customers, but competition has been heating up as customers, under stress from inflation and higher interest rates, delay purchasing new phones or signing up for pricier plans.

T-Mobile said it added a net 850,000 postpaid phone customers in the quarter, beating the consensus forecast of 773,400 and outpacing its rivals. AT&T last week said it had 468,000 additional postpaid customers and Verizon on Tuesday reported a gain of 100,000.

In a call to discuss the result, CEO Mike Sievert stressed that competition is becoming “intense” as the industry enters the holiday season.

Wireless carriers began to offer Apple’s (AAPL) latest iPhone at the end of their latest quarter, but T-Mobile said a smaller overall share of consumers have been upgrading their equipment. Verizon on Tuesday also said upgrade levels have been muted. AT&T CEO John Stankey, though, said the company “saw the strongest iPhone preorders we’ve had in many years” in September.

For the year ahead, T-Mobile said it expects to add a net 5.7 million to 5.9 million postpaid customers, higher than its prior forecast of 5.6 million to 5.9 million. It also said adjusted free cash flow for the year is expected to be between $13.4 billion and $13.6 billion, up from an earlier call of between $13.2 billion and $13.6 billion.

Verizon (VZ) expects 2023 free cash flow to be above $18 billion, up from $17 billion earlier. AT&T expects $16.5 billion of free cash flow for 2023, up from $16 billion earlier. 

Write to Karishma Vanjani at [email protected]