T-Mobile US released its third quarter earnings report before opening bell this morning, posting adjusted earnings of 27 cents per share on $9.2 billion in revenue. Analysts had been expecting 21 cents per share and $9.5 billion in revenue.
T-Mobile shows strong growth in Q3
T-Mobile’s GAAP earnings surged to 42 cents per share from 15 cents per share in last year’s third quarter. The mobile carrier added 2 million net new subscribers during the quarter, marking the 14th quarter in a row in which it added more than 1 million subscribers. It added 851,000 branded postpaid phones and 684,000 branded prepaid subscribers. The branded postpaid phone churn rate declined 14 basis points year over tear to 1.32%.
The company’s service revenues grew 13.2% to $7.1 billion, while its adjusted EBITDA surged 37.8% to $2.6 billion. In the year-ago quarter, adjusted EBITDA was $1.9 billion. T-Mobile’s adjusted EBITDA margin was 37%, which includes $199 million in spectrum gains.
“The Un-carrier is delivering,” said T-Mobile President and Chief Executive Officer John Legere in a statement. “We took share and grew our customer base while producing both financial growth and shareholder value. Most importantly, we are delivering results for both customers and shareholders alike.”
The mobile carrier said it was again the fastest 4G LTE network in the U.S. on download and upload speeds, marking the 11th quarter in a row that it has held the title.
T-Mobile raises guidance for subscriber adds
The mobile carrier raised its guidance range for branded postpaid net adds for this year to between 3.7 million and 3.9 million from between 3.4 million and 3.8 million. T-Mobile moved its adjusted EBITDA outlook to between $10.2 billion and $10.4 billion from a range of $9.8 billion to $10.1 billion. It also narrowed its outlook for cash capital expenditures to between $4.5 billion and $4.7 billion from $4.5 billion to $4.8 billion.
Shares of T-Mobile US jumped by as much as 3.53% to $48.40 in premarket trading following this morning’s earnings release.