How did the wireless industry perform in the first quarter of 2018? Check here throughout the earnings season for full earnings reports from the wireless industry's biggest public carriers, handset makers, equipment suppliers and others.
And don't forget to check out our wrap-up pages for the fourth quarter and third quarter of 2017.
April 18
Crown Castle International (NYSE: CCI)
Crown Castle reported first quarter earnings largely in line with Wall Street analyst expectations, but the company raised its revenue expectations for 2018 and also reported increased momentum in its small cell efforts. The volume of small cell bookings in the first quarter was comparable to what it booked during all of 2016, resulting in an increase in its contracted pipeline to more than 30,000 nodes. Analysts at Deutsche Bank Research cheered the company’s results, noting that Crown Castle previously had reported 25,000 small cell nodes in its contracted pipeline.
- see our coverage
- see this Crown Castle press release
April 20
Ericsson (Nasdaq: ERIC)
Overall, Ericsson’s first-quarter loss shrank to just $35.6 million, far better than the massive loss the company reported in the same quarter a year ago and significantly better than what Wall Street analysts had predicted. Ericsson’s gross margin rose to 35.9% in the period, up from the 18.7% it notched in the year-ago quarter. Ericsson’s total workforce was reduced by more than 3,000 during the first quarter.
- see our coverage
- see Ericsson’s results
April 24
Verizon (NYSE: VZ)
Verizon reported a somewhat mixed bag of first-quarter earnings, with several unexpected financial actions, but the carrier’s wireless results—including better-than-expected customer numbers—led some Wall Street analysts to conclude that the carrier is making progress on steadying its position in the industry.
- see our coverage
- see Verizon's earnings release
April 25
América Móvil (TracFone)
América Móvil added 1.4 million postpaid wireless subscribers in the first quarter, twice as many as a year before—including 935,000 in Brazil and 181,000 in Mexico, bringing its subscriber base up 7.4% year-on-year.
- see the release
- visit América Móvil's investor relations site
AT&T (NYSE: T)
AT&T reported wireless customer numbers that were slightly above some Wall Street expectations, and the carrier reiterated its promise that its financial footing in wireless would improve, but some analysts expressed concern at the operator’s somewhat rocky performance.
- see our coverage
- see AT&T’s press release
Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM)
Qualcomm reported a sharp decline in its quarterly profits, largely due to a reduction in the amount of money it obtains from licensing its patents to other companies. Qualcomm’s CFO also promised that the company would implement more cost-cutting actions in the coming months.
- see our coverage
- see Qualcomm’s results
April 26
Nokia (NYSE: NOK)
Nokia reported sluggish results in its networks business but maintained its outlook for the full year 2018, largely due to what it said would be major 5G rollouts starting in the United States later this year and expanding to other areas next year.
- see our coverage
- see Nokia’s results
Samsung
Samsung Electronics’ first-quarter revenue was primarily led by its memory business and increased sales of its flagship mobile products, including the Galaxy S9. For the second quarter, Samsung expects the memory business to maintain a strong performance but said generating overall earnings growth across the company will be a challenge due to weakness in the display panel segment and a decline in profitability in the mobile business amid rising competition in the high-end segment.
- see Samsung's results
May 1
T-Mobile (Nasdaq: TMUS)
T-Mobile’s first-quarter performance largely exceeded analysts’ expectations for the period, with the carrier reporting postpaid net customer additions of fully 1 million—ahead of Wells Fargo estimates of 830,000. Importantly, T-Mobile’s customer additions for the period included 617,000 phone subscribers, a figure that was also ahead of Wells Fargo expectations of 614,000.
- see our coverage
- see T-Mobile's results
Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL)
Apple posted quarterly revenue of $61.1 billion, an increase of 16% from the year-ago quarter, and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $2.73, up 30%. International sales accounted for 65% of the quarter’s revenue.
- see Apple's quarterly release
U.S. Cellular (NYSE: USM)
U.S. Cellular reported total operating revenues of $942 million for the first quarter of 2018, versus $936 million for the same period one year ago. Net income attributable to U.S. Cellular shareholders and related diluted earnings per share were $45 million and $0.52, respectively, for the first quarter of 2018, compared to $26 million and $0.31, respectively, in the same period one year ago.
- see U.S. Cellular's earnings release
May 2
Sprint (NYSE: S)
During the company’s quarterly call with investors, Sprint’s VP of investor relations, Jud Henry, announced that most of the carrier’s 55,000 postpaid phone net additions during the period stemmed from Sprint’s new prepaid-to-postpaid customer migration program. For its full fiscal year 2017, Sprint reported net cash of $10.1 billion and net income of $7.4 billion (a figure that included a one-time $7.1 billion noncash benefit from tax reform).
- see our coverage
- visit Sprint's earnings release
May 8
Dish Network (Nasdaq: DISH)
Dish Network’s Charlie Ergen didn’t offer many new details on the company’s plan to build a wireless network for the internet of things. He declined to comment on whether Amazon would use the network, he wouldn’t say whether Dish would purchase more spectrum, and he wouldn’t comment on Dish’s possible discussions with Sprint and T-Mobile. But he did tell investors not to expect big profits on Day One from its NB-IoT network.
- see our coverage
- see Dish's quarterly release