Benzinga | Apr 21, 2021 10:23AM EDT

Verizon Exceeds Q1 Analyst Estimates Despite Missing On Subscriber Numbers

* Verizon Communications Inc's (NYSE: VZ) first quarter of FY21 operating revenue rose 4% year on year to $32.9 billion, exceeding analyst estimate of $32.46 billion. The telecom giant reported 326,000 retail postpaid net losses.

* Verizon adopted a conservative customer acquisition approach compared to AT&T Inc (NYSE: T) and T-Mobile US Inc's (NASDAQ: TMUS) free-phone promotions, Bloomberg reports. Verizon remained focused on partnerships with Amazon.Com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Corning Inc (NYSE: GLW) to drive advanced 5G service sales.

* Consumer revenues rose 4.7% to $22.8 billion from higher phone activations. Consumer wireless equipment revenues increased 24.1% to $4.2 billion. The segment operating income rose 3.3%, while the margin declined 50 basis points to 33%.

* 156,000 retail postpaid net additions drove the Business revenue growth of 1.3% to $7.8 billion. The segment operating income declined 5.8%, and the margin declined 80 basis points to 11.6%.

* Wireless service revenue rose 2.4% to $16.7 billion, on the back of a loss of 170,000 monthly wireless subscribers; analysts estimated 82,100 new additions.

* Media revenues rose 10.4% to $1.9 billion.

* EPS rose 4% to $1.31, beating consensus estimates of $1.29.

* The company generated $9.7 billion in operating cash flow during the quarter, and the capital expenditure amounted to $4.5 billion.

* Verizon spent over $52 billion on mid-band airwaves last month to make them available to a third of the nation by early next year.

* Outlook: Verizon expects a minimum of 2% growth in Service and other revenue, including total wireless service revenue growth of a minimum of 3% for FY21. EPS expectations lie between $5.00 to $5.15, against the analyst estimate of $5.08.

* Price action: VZ shares traded lower by 0.22% at $58.26 on the last check Wednesday.