Verizon stock slides as company sees ‘challenging’ quarter

Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. dropped the most since 2023 on Tuesday after the company gave a muted outlook for growth in mobile-phone subscribers in the current quarter.

Competition among the big three telecommunications companies is intense as Verizon, AT&T Inc. and T-Mobile U.S. Inc. all seek to woo customers away from their rivals with more perks and lower prices.

“We’ve seen an elevated level of competitive intensity in the quarter,” Frank Boulben, Verizon chief revenue officer, said at a Deutsche Bank event on Tuesday. He noted that after the Christmas holiday, when Verizon ended it’s seasonal promotions, its peers did not. “So it’s been a challenging quarter from a competitive intensity standpoint.”

New subscribers this quarter “are probably going to be soft,” he said.

The stock fell as much as 8% in New York to $42.78.

Verizon customers also are holding on to their phones for longer, Boulben said, with the average life of a device now surpassing 41 months. People are waiting to upgrade until they need a new battery, he said.

AT&T shares were also down, sliding as much as 4%. Chief Financial Officer Pascal Desroches was generally more optimistic than Boulben, saying he expects 2025 to be a “good year,” but he also acknowledged that he doesn’t think the industry will grow as much this year as it did last year. For the few available new customers, “there will be more competition,” he said, speaking at the same conference.