What Happened?
Shares of telecommunications conglomerate AT&T (NYSE: T) jumped 5.6% in the afternoon session after the company reported fourth-quarter 2025 results that surpassed Wall Street's expectations.
The company posted revenue of $33.47 billion, marking a 3.6% increase from the previous year and beating analyst estimates. AT&T also reported a GAAP profit of $0.53 per share, which was significantly ahead of the consensus forecast of $0.46. The stronger-than-expected performance in both sales and profitability appeared to drive positive investor sentiment, despite some underlying concerns noted in its report, such as a year-over-year decline in its free cash flow margin.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
AT&T’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 2 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful, although it might not be something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 5 months ago when the stock dropped 1.9% on the news that EchoStar announced plans to sell its spectrum licenses to SpaceX, fueling concerns about increased competition in the telecommunications sector. The nearly $17 billion deal has investors worried as SpaceX's expansion of its satellite-based services could disrupt the market for traditional carriers like AT&T.
AT&T is down 1.4% since the beginning of the year, and at $24.20 per share, it is trading 18.3% below its 52-week high of $29.62 from September 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of AT&T’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $840.42.
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