AT&T Q3 2026 earnings: profit beat and raised guidance, despite Mexico charge

October 21, 2026 · Published October 23, 2026

AT&T topped profit estimates and raised its 2026 outlook, powered by fiber and bundled-service growth, even as a one-time Mexico write-down hit reported net income.

Key takeaways

• Adjusted earnings per share of $0.65 beat Wall Street’s estimate of about $0.61, while revenue of $32.3 billion came in essentially in line with expectations.
• Growth was driven by AT&T’s ‘convergence’ push — bundling home internet with wireless phone plans. The company added more than 1 million new subscribers across fiber, fixed wireless internet, and postpaid phones combined, with fiber internet adding 442,000 customers and fixed wireless adding 327,000.
• Postpaid phone additions, the traditional measure of wireless growth, came in at 379,000 — roughly matching analyst forecasts rather than exceeding them.
• AT&T raised its full-year 2026 adjusted profit outlook to about $2.40 per share, up from its earlier range of $2.25 to $2.35, while keeping its free cash flow targets unchanged through 2028.
• The company said it now expects to spend less on capital projects in 2027 and 2028 (lowered to a $22-23 billion annual range) while still completing its planned fiber network buildout, a sign management sees the heaviest infrastructure spending as past its peak.
• Net income under standard accounting rules fell sharply from a year earlier, largely because AT&T recorded a $2.6 billion non-cash write-down tied to its agreement to sell its Mexico wireless business; the adjusted EPS figure above excludes that one-time charge.
• The TTM profitability figures in the data table show margins holding up well — a sign the core business is converting a steady share of each revenue dollar into profit even as AT&T invests heavily in network upgrades.
• Shares fell in premarket trading despite the beat-and-raise report, which coverage tied partly to the Mexico write-down and to rising debt levels after AT&T’s recent purchase of wireless spectrum from EchoStar, which pushed its debt-to-earnings ratio above the company’s own long-term target.

Q3 2026 in context

Figures for the quarter ended Sep 2026 and the quarter ended Sep 2025, as reported to the SEC.

How the stock took it

AT&T Inc closed at $23.42 on Oct 20, 2026, the last session before the report, and at $22.74 on Oct 22, 2026, the first session after it — -2.9% across the report.

Closes from the market's daily record. Each figure spans the report date — from the last session that closed before it to the first that closed after — because a company may report before the open or after the close.

Fundamentals

Financial history →

Sources: company report · earnings call · Finviz · roic.ai