Verizon's Earnings Beat Driven By Home and Business Internet.

Verizon's (VZ) home and business wireless services boosted third-quarter earnings even as the telecom giant lost cellular subscribers.

Shares rose more than 5% in early trading Wednesday as the bottom-line results topped analysts' expectations and the company raised its guidance for 2023 free cash flow by $1 billion, to $18 billion.

Earning per share fell to $1.13 from $1.17 in the prior year quarter, if you don't take out about a $579 million hit from TracFone and shutting its BlueJeans business, among others. Adjusted EPS for the third quarter was $1.22, lower than the year ago quarter but higher than analyst expectations compiled by Visible Alpha at $1.18.

Revenue also fell by 2.6% year-over-year to $33.3 billion due to lower wireless equipment revenue and fewer upgrades by postpaid customers.

Verizon saw 434,000 net additions for its broadband service, up 15% from the same period last year. Consumer wireless business revenue grew 2.9% to $15.96 billion on the back of fixed wireless additions, even as both postpaid and retail wireless subscribers tapered. Wireless business customers helped offset some of the company's continued struggle to maintain users in its wireline division.

The broader communication services sector has this year regained much of the ground it lost as the worst-performing sector in the S&P 500 last year.

The benchmark S&P 500 Communication Services Select Sector Index is up more than 33% in the 12 months leading to Oct. 24, 2023.

Last week, AT&T announced better-than-expected earnings results and 468,000 new postpaid phone subscribers, a sharp improvement over the most recent quarter.

Verizon shares have fallen roughly 12% in the last year and have lost about half their value since reaching a high above $60 per share in late 2019. But still kept its levels high.