The wireless company beat subscriber expectations while pulling back on costly promotions

Verizon expects accelerating growth on total mobility and broadband service revenue.

It's a new era at Verizon Communications, and the company is upping its financial forecasts as it makes progress under the current leadership team.

Verizon $(VZ)$ on Friday reported 184,000 postpaid phone net additions for the second quarter, above the 106,000 FactSet consensus view. The performance also marked a dramatic reversal from a year earlier, when Verizon posted a net loss on the metric.

When CEO Dan Schulman took over the top post in January, he vowed that the company would stop being a "hunting ground" for wireless competitors looking to pick up new subscribers of their own. At the time, Wall Street was doubtful that Verizon would be able to pull off the transformation without eroding its financials or offsetting the industry balance.

He took a victory lap of sorts in Friday's press release.

"We are accelerating across our key metrics, achieving a step-change in churn reduction while lowering our customer acquisition and retention costs," Schulman said. "By compounding lower churn with healthier unit economics, we have generated the strongest operating position we have seen in years." Churn refers to the rate at which customers leave a network.

Verizon's stock was up 4% in premarket action.

Adjusted earnings per share came out to $1.30 for the second quarter, up from $1.22 a year before and ahead of the $1.28 that analysts tracked by FactSet were modeling.

Revenue dipped 0.7% relative to a year earlier, and it came in at $34.3 billion, below the $35.2 billion consensus view. But revenue misses aren't necessarily viewed as bad things in the eyes of wireless investors. Verizon noted that its top-line total reflected a nearly 20% drop in equipment revenue as the company pulled back on device promotions and saw customers hold on to phones for longer.

"It is another demonstration of Verizon's more disciplined approach as the company structurally evolves its business model," the company said in its earnings release.

Service revenue for mobility and broadband rose 2.8% in the quarter, and Verizon forecasts accelerating performance later in the year. It expects total mobility and broadband service revenue growth to "approach" 3% in the third quarter and about 4% in the fourth quarter.

Verizon's full-year guidance on the metric now calls for 2.5% to 3% growth, versus its prior outlook of 2% to 3% growth.

See also: T-Mobile's stock sinks despite customers pouring into premium plans

-Emily Bary

This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 24, 2026 07:08 ET (11:08 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.