Earnings time has come again for AT&T and DIRECTV. While we don’t expect this season’s earnings call to be peppered with the kind of juicy tech tidbits we saw in previous years, it’s still a great opportunity to know where the company is going. In the previous two calls they didn’t focus on DIRECTV much at all, either because they wanted investors to know that AT&T was still the parent or perhaps because they just hadn’t completely integrated DIRECTV’s sprawling universe into their own.
Tomorrow’s the next chance for investors and satellite TV fans to judge the health and performance of the company. If DIRECTV isn’t mentioned by name, look for mentions of “AT&T Entertainment” which is the business unit that includes DIRECTV and U-Verse, or “AT&T Mobility” which is the even larger group that included AT&T Entertainment and AT&T Wireless.
Forecasts, anyone? Personally I expect traditionally strong performance from DIRECTV, which tends to be a little stronger than other providers in the first quarter due to historically awesome fourth quarter activity. I expect that U-verse’s slow slide to oblivion will temper the excitement somewhat, but watching DIRECTV rise as U-verse falls will give investors some idea that merging the two companies was the right thing to do.
From the cellular point of view, the war between AT&T and Verizon for top spot has never been more heated, with both companies spending heavily on image advertising rather than relying on low-cost deals to attract customers. AT&T seems to focus more on handset technology while Verizon claims better reliability. It’s hard to know which is more important to customers. In the meantime, T-Mobile keeps trying wild tactics and Sprint… well as usual they’re somewhere in the north 40 doing who-knows-what.
Check in with us in the next few days as we get detailed numbers and insights, as soon as they are released. If you’re interested in looking for yourself, here’s the press release:
AT&T* (NYSE:T) announced today that the company’s first-quarter 2016 results will be released after the New York Stock Exchange closes on Tuesday, April 26, 2016. At 4:30 p.m. ET the same day, AT&T will host a conference call to discuss the results. The company’s earnings release, Investor Briefing and related materials will be available at AT&T Investor Relations.
The company will broadcast a live webcast of the call at AT&T Investor Relations, and the webcast will be available for replay at the same address.*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.
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*Global coverage claim based on offering discounted voice and data roaming; LTE roaming; voice roaming; and world-capable smartphone and tablets in more countries than any other U.S. based carrier. International service required. Coverage not available in all areas. Coverage may vary per country and be limited/restricted in some countries.
