General Motors and Verizon released their latest quarterly earnings reports before opening bell this morning. GM posted adjusted earnings of $1.26 per share and revenue of $37.3 billion, handily beating the consensus numbers of 99 cents per share and $34.8 billion.
Verizon posted earnings of $1.06 per share, which was in line with the consensus, on $32.2 billion, which was slightly behind the consensus estimate of $32.4 billion and represented a year over year increase of 0.6%. Excluding AOL, which wasn’t part of Verizon last year, revenue fell 1.5% to $22 billion. AOL recorded its highest first quarter revenues in five years under Verizon’s ownership, the company said.
GM’s reported earnings surged from 56 cents per share last year to $1.24 per share in this year’s first quarter. General Motors’ North America division recorded $2.3 billion in adjusted EBIT, a new record which includes $200 million in restructuring costs and compares to last year’s $2.2 billion. GM Europe’s adjusted EBIT was breakeven, compared with last year’s loss of $200 million. The International Operations segment recorded $400 million in adjusted EBIT, which was flat with last year, while GM South America’s adjusted EBIT was -$100 million, still an improvement from last year’s -$200 million. GM Financial’s earnings per tax was flat with last year at $200 million.
General Motors shares surged 3.57% to $33.35 in premarket trades following this morning’s earnings results.
Verizon added 640,000 retail postpaid wireless customers and recorded a postpaid churn rate of 0.96%. The company saw phone activations on installment plans increased to 68% year over year in the first quarter, a slight improvement from the 67% recorded in the previous quarter. The mobile carrier ended the first quarter with 73.8 million smartphones on its network, representing 85% of the total installed base. 4G devices accounted for more than 81% of retail postpaid connections.
The company’s Fios segment saw a 5% increase in revenue, and Verizon added 98,000 Fios Internet and 36,000 Fios video subscribers during the quarter. Internet of Things revenues grew 25% to $195 million, while EBITDA of $12 billion was flat with last year.
Verizon management still expects full-year adjusted earnings to be flat with last year but warned that labor contract negotiations could pressure that target.
Verizon shares declined 1.47% to $50.98 in premarket trading this morning.
