News
The company narrowly missed industry predictions on its Earnings Per Share (EPS) indicator
Verizon posted its Q4 2017 financial report yesterday, narrowly missing analysts’ predictions for investor returns, but beating estimates for revenue.
Verizon achieved Earnings Per Share (EPS) of $0.86 per share, just short of the $0.88 per share predicted by Thompson Reuters. Revenue for the period increased to £33.96 billion, compared to market predictions of $33.26 billion.
“As the most efficient wireless network provider in the US, Verizon’s Q4 earnings remained pretty flat, but revenue was higher than estimated. The US telco market is markedly more competitive than the UK’s, but one thing that transcends geography is the need for good customer service, something Verizon is clearly investing in judging by its systematic efforts to diversify into areas like digital content and online advertising," said Peter Veash, CEO at The BIO Agency.
Verizon added 1.2 million new customers to its books in the fourth quarter of 2018 and has performed well in attracting new customers across the whole year. The company ascribed this boost in subscriptions to the way it is diversifying its offering across new markets, including online TV streaming. Verizon signed an agreement with Netflix in Q4 2017, attempting to streamline its pay TV services.
"Of course, the trend of telco brands diversifying isn’t new – it just seems like Verizon is consistently 10 steps in front of its competition. In the UK, for example, only 27% of people would recommend their current telco provider, while 90% perceive their telco provider as a utility company. The telco space in the UK is aware of the need to transform to survive, even if this means moving away from traditional business models. The key differentiator is customer experience, something Verizon has strived to improve, underpinned by continual investment in its wireless and wireline fibre-optic networks,” Veash added.
