-=Verizon (VZ) reported earnings on Tue 23 Oct 2018 (b/o)

 Verizon beats by $0.03, reports revs in-line; Reaffirms Rev and EPS growth outlook for 2018, lowers CapEx spend outlook

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $1.22 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the S&P Capital IQ Consensus of $1.19; revenues rose 2.8% year/year to $32.61 bln vs the $32.45 bln S&P Capital IQ Consensus.
  • 515,000 retail postpaid net additions, including 510,000 postpaid smartphone net adds. (Slightl;y better than street expectations).
  • Retail postpaid phone churn at 0.80 percent.
  • Total revenue growth of 6.1 percent year over year, excluding the impact of the revenue recognition standard adopted on Jan. 1, 2018.
  • Service revenue growth of 2.6 percent year over year, excluding the impact of the revenue recognition standard.
• Verizon is on track to deliver against a goal to achieve $10 billion in cumulative cash savings by 2021.... 
• Oath Business Falling Short of Expectations- In Verizon's media business, Oath revenues were $1.8 billion in third-quarter 2018, 6.9 percent below the same quarter last year. The company expects Oath revenues to be relatively flat in the near term and does not expect to meet the previous target of $10 billion in Oath revenues by 2020.
• Wireless Revenues Beat Expectations- Total revenues were $23.0 billion, an increase of 6.5 percent year over year. Excluding the impact of the revenue recognition standard, total revenues were $22.9 billion in third-quarter 2018, an increase of 6.1 percent compared with third-quarter 2017....
• Guidance
  • Full-year consolidated revenue growth at low-to-mid single-digit percentage rates on a GAAP reported basis (Reaffirms)
  • The impact of revenue recognition on EPS for full-year 2018 to be between 27 and 31 cents. The accretive benefit to full-year 2018 consolidated operating income is expected to moderate in 2019 and become insignificant in 2020, as the timing impacts to revenues and commission costs converge (Reaffirms)
  • Low single-digit percentage growth in adjusted EPS in 2018, before the net impact of tax reform and the revenue recognition standard (Reaffirms)
  • Capital spending for 2018 to be in the range of $16.6 billion to $17.0 billion (Prior $17.0-17.8 bln)
  • The effective tax rate for full-year 2018 to be at the low end of the range of 24 to 26 percent (Reaffirms)