Verizon has announced its earnings for the second quarter of 2018 – the three months ending June 30 – and it actually beat analyst expectations this time around. EPS or Earnings Per Share was $1.20, which was higher than the $1.14 that analysts had expected. Non-GAAP EPS is actually an increase from the same period last year, which was $0.96. Now regular EPS is $1.00, versus the $1.07 per share in the same period a year ago.
Now when it comes to the wireless side of things, Verizon added 531,000 retail postpaid, and that includes 398,000 postpaid smartphone net adds. Verizon is also touting some pretty strong customer loyalty, with 0.75-percent retail postpaid phone churn. And it’s also the fifth consecutive quarter of retail postpaid phone churn at 0.80 or better. This means that more people are coming into Verizon than leaving the carrier, which is always a good thing for a wireless carrier. Verizon also notes that its total revenue growth was 4.7-percent in the second quarter, year-over-year. That also excludes the impact of the revenue recognition standard adopted on January 1, 2018. For its wireline business, Verizon was able to post 43,000 FiOS Internet net adds, with total FiOS revenue growth coming in at 2.3-percent year-over-year.
Now the total consolidated operating revenues for the quarter totaled $32.2 billion. That was up 5.4-percent from the same period a year ago. Net income was $4.2 billion, with EBITDA totaling about $11 billion. The consolidated operating income margin was 20.5-percent for the quarter. Cash flow from operations totaled around $9.8 billion during the quarter, and that’s up $1.9 billion year-over-year. Total capital expenditures in the second quarter totaled $3.3 billion, which brings its first-half capital spending to $7.8 billion. Finally, Verizon’s total debt balanced dropped by $4.4 billion from the first quarter, and this was due to the benefits of tax reform that went through at the end of 2017.
Verizon posted a pretty strong quarter on all fronts. It was able to bring in new customers on its wireless and wireline business, while also bringing in more revenue and increasing it’s operating margin. But something that is going to make investors pretty happy is the fact that Verizon was able to decrease its debt by about $4.4 billion in the quarter, which is always a good thing. As it shows that the company’s business is pretty strong.