Verizon Communications Inc.

Second-quarter total revenue was $34.3 billion, down 0.7% year over year. Mobility and broadband service revenue was $23.4 billion, up 2.8% year over year and 120 basis points better sequentially; wireless service revenue declined 0.7% to $20.8 billion. Adjusted EBITDA was $13.7 billion, up 7.2% year over year, with adjusted EBITDA margin at 40.1%, the highest Verizon said it has ever reported. Adjusted EPS was $1.30, up 6.6% year over year. Free cash flow was $6.4 billion in the quarter, up 24% year over year. For the full year, Verizon raised mobility and broadband service revenue guidance to 2.5% to 3%, adjusted EPS growth guidance to 6% to 7%, and free cash flow growth guidance to 9% to 10%. Management said Q3 mobility and broadband service revenue should approach 3% growth and Q4 should be about 4% year over year. Share repurchases were $1 billion in the quarter and $3.5 billion year to date; the full-year buyback target was raised to up to $4.5 billion.

Dan Schulman framed the quarter as evidence that Verizon’s transformation is creating a structural inflection in the business. He emphasized better customer experience, lower churn, improving acquisition economics, and a new value proposition centered on loyalty, simplified pricing, and Verizon One. He also highlighted convergence, network improvements, and AI infrastructure as new and growing growth vectors, saying the second half of 2026 should be stronger than the first and 2027 stronger than 2026.

Tony Skiadas focused on the step-up in operating performance and the translation into financial leverage. He cited $34.3 billion of revenue, $13.7 billion of adjusted EBITDA, 40.1% adjusted EBITDA margin, $1.30 of adjusted EPS, and $10.2 billion of free cash flow in the first half, up $1.4 billion or 16% year over year. He also noted $18.4 billion of operating cash flow for the first six months, $8.2 billion of capex through Q2 against a full-year guide of $16 billion to $16.5 billion, $3.2 billion spent for 82 AWS-3 licenses, net unsecured debt to consolidated adjusted EBITDA of 2.5x, and substantial progress paying down Frontier debt ahead of schedule. He said the company remains on track for over $1 billion of run-rate synergies by 2028 from Frontier and increased the buyback target to up to $4.5 billion.

Analysts pressed on competition, the impact of the new value proposition, and whether the business can sustain improving account growth and service revenue. Schulman said the new launch has been very smooth, that gross adds were about 16% better than forecast and net new accounts were 31% above forecast, with positive new account growth over the past two months and expected in Q3 as well. On the AI fiber opportunity, management said the Google deal is valued at over $1 billion, more deals should be announced by year-end, and AI Connect revenues should begin to affect results in 2027. On fixed wireless and satellite, Schulman said Verizon sees no meaningful broadband threat from satellite in its core urban and suburban markets and described fiber/FWA convergence as a key driver of ARPA and lower churn.