On Monday, AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) confirmed it is on track to meet its 2025 financial targets and execute its long-term strategic plan.
The company reiterated FY25 adjusted EPS guidance of $1.97 to $2.07 (vs. consensus of $2.04) and first-quarter adjusted EPS of around $0.48, or higher (vs. street view of $0.49).
This implies that the first quarter of 2025 adjusted EPS will be in line with or better than the prior year's first quarter, excluding DIRECTV.
AT&T maintains its full-year outlook of free cash flow of over $16 billion and sees around $2.8 billion or more for the first quarter. This aligns with or exceeds first-quarter 2024 levels, excluding DIRECTV.
Also, the company anticipates to receive cash payments of $1.4 to $1.5 billion from DIRECTV in first quarter as part of its agreement to sell its 70% stake in DIRECTV to TPG.
AT&T targets closing the transaction by mid-2025, generating total after-tax cash proceeds of $5.4 billion in 2025, along with $500 million in 2029.
In the first quarter, AT&T also secured over $850 million in cash proceeds from a structured real estate sale-leaseback with Reign Capital.
AT&T remains on track to achieve its net leverage target of net-debt-to-adjusted EBITDA in the 2.5x range by the first half of 2025 and intends to sustain this level through 2027.
This month, AT&T outlined its multi-year strategy to generate over $50 billion in financial capacity within the next three years, driven primarily by organic growth.
In January, the company reported fourth-quarter 2024 operating revenues of $32.30 billion, beating the analyst consensus estimate of $32.04 billion and adjusted EPS of $0.54 exceeded the estimate of $0.50.
Investors can gain exposure to the stock via iShares U.S. Telecommunications ETF (BATS:IYZ) and WBI Power Factor High Dividend ETF (NYSE:WBIY).
Price Action: T shares are down 0.95% at $27.02 premarket at the last check Tuesday.
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