Verizon raises 2026 guidance for third straight quarter as EPS rises to $1.25

Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) said Monday its third-quarter earnings per share rose 6.8% to $1.25, while adjusted EPS reached $1.31, up 8.3% from a year earlier.

The company reported the results in a press release attached to a regulatory filing dated Oct. 26, 2026, covering the three months ended Sept. 30. Total operating revenue was $34.3 billion, up 1.5% from a year earlier.

Here's how the company did:

• Earnings per share: $1.25 vs. $1.17 a year earlier
• Adjusted EPS: $1.31 vs. $1.21 a year earlier
• Total operating revenue: $34.3 billion vs. $33.8 billion a year earlier
• Consolidated net income: $5.3 billion, up 5.2% from a year earlier
• Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA: $13.8 billion, up 8.0% from a year earlier

Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, excludes items such as severance and acquisition-related charges. Its margin rose to 40.2% from 37.8%, the highest the company has ever reported.

"Verizon delivered another record-breaking quarter," said CEO Dan Schulman. "One year into our transformation, Verizon is fundamentally stronger — operationally, financially, and competitively."

Postpaid phone net additions were 406,000 in the quarter, an increase of more than 820% from a year earlier. The company said it was the strongest third-quarter performance in five years.

Postpaid net account additions reached 137,000, the best performance in over a decade, the company said. Postpaid phone churn improved 4 basis points to 0.94%.

Broadband net additions were 314,000, including 159,000 from fixed wireless access and 155,000 from fiber. Total broadband connections reached 17.4 million.

Mobility and broadband service revenue rose 2.9% to $23.5 billion. Equipment revenue fell 9.0%, which the company attributed mainly to significantly lower upgrade volumes and a decision to reduce spending on device subsidies.

The Consumer segment had total operating revenue of $26.4 billion, up 1.3%, and segment EBITDA of $12.0 billion, up 6.5%. The Business segment had revenue of $7.0 billion, up 2.6%, and segment EBITDA of $1.9 billion, up 13.0%.

Net cash from operating activities was $11.5 billion, up 2.2%. Free cash flow, or operating cash flow minus capital expenditures, was $7.8 billion, up 12.1% from a year earlier.

For the first nine months, operating cash flow was $29.9 billion and free cash flow was $18.0 billion, up 14.3%. Capital expenditures for the period were $11.9 billion.

Net unsecured debt was $123.7 billion at the end of the quarter, down from $128.7 billion at the end of the second quarter. Total unsecured debt was $136.1 billion, compared with $136.5 billion at the end of the second quarter. The ratio of net unsecured debt to Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA was 2.3 times.

In the first nine months Verizon returned $12.8 billion to shareholders, up 49.0%. That included $8.8 billion in dividends and $4.0 billion in share repurchases. The company continues to expect to repurchase up to $4.5 billion for the full year.

The company recorded no severance charges in the third quarter. It did record a $746 million loss on disposition of business in the second quarter, tied to classifying its international wireline connectivity and managed network services business as held for sale.

Full-time equivalent employees totaled 93.3 thousand at the end of the quarter, the company said in the filing.

Amazon Web Services agreement

Verizon and Amazon Web Services expanded their strategic partnership with an agreement valued at $2.0+ billion. The company said it establishes a commercial framework to scale distributed compute for agentic and generative AI workloads.

"At the same time, technology leaders are choosing our fiber network to power the next generation of AI infrastructure," Schulman said.

The company expects total fiber passings to exceed 32 million by year-end, on the way to a target of 40 to 50 million over the medium term. The filing does not give the agreement's term or payment schedule.

Guidance raised again

Verizon raised its full-year 2026 guidance for the third consecutive quarter. The company now expects postpaid phone net additions of 1.1 million to 1.2 million, up from the upper half of 750,000 to 1.0 million.

Adjusted EPS is now forecast at $5.04 to $5.06, or 7.0% to 7.5% growth from a year earlier, up from 6.0% to 7.0%. Cash flow from operations growth is now expected at 3.5% to 5.0%, up from 2.0% to 4.0%.

Free cash flow growth is expected to approach 12.0%, up from 9.0% to 10.0%. Mobility and broadband service revenue is expected to grow in the upper half of 2.5% to 3.0% for the year, with about 4.0% growth in the fourth quarter.

The company continues to expect capital expenditures of $16.0 billion to $16.5 billion, inclusive of success-based investments for AI Connect. It said it cannot, without unreasonable effort, predict the special items that could arise, so it does not reconcile certain adjusted forecasts.