Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg Talks Profit Outlook - podcast episode cover

Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg Talks Profit Outlook

Jul 21, 20256 min
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Episode description

Verizon Communications Inc. posted second-quarter revenue that surpassed analysts’ estimates, with operating revenue of $34.5 billion, up 5.2% from a year earlier. The company raised its profit outlook, citing "favorable tax reform" and strong performance. Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg speaks with Bloomberg's Sonali Basak and Katie Griefeld

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Transcript

Speaker 1

Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news, and.

Speaker 2

We welcome now our Bloomberg television audience and radio listeners. Verizon stock rising after beating revenue estimates and raising its profit outlook. Joining us now, Verizon CEO Hans Wesberg. Question about your revenue guidance here and the beat that you have posted so far. How much of a role did the recent price increases play in the quarter's performance.

Speaker 3

Now, if you look at the quarter and actually the last four quarters or strategy is working, we have a lot of vectors of growth all the way from our broadband fixed wires, access, our step ups, pre paid is growing, and then we have our adjacent services with perks and all of that, so all of them are actually contributing.

And then the lost I would say three for quarters have also been very good and discipline our cost levels, so we get the leverage or ABITA was twelve point eight billion dollars a growth of force, so we're raised the guidance both for ABITA EPs and free cash flow, all of them sort of coming from the generation of good financials, but it's based on the customer offerings we have built over the last year. There is really resonating with the market, either on broadband or wireless, and for

all customers. Were serving all customers the United States, all the way from the governmental or federal customers to large enterprise SMBs and consumers. So that's what you see right now, resonating with the financials. But ultimately it's about having the right offerings for our customers.

Speaker 4

Let's talk about those cost levers a little bit more when it comes to wireless, because okay, you had a net loss of fifty one thousand monthly wireless phone subscribers in the periods Endless had been expecting again actually of about twelve thousand. At the same time you did have those wireless price increases go through. How many more times can you pull that lever and continue to raise prices.

Speaker 3

I think we had a price increase on consumer post paid in the first quarter that there has been lingering to the second quarter. I never disclosed my commercial strategies going forward, but I actually I think we'll have a good value. We have good proposition that we have an enormous good value on the consumer side, but it cannot forget our business side where enterprise and SMBs. So continue

the growth for us both in wires and broadband. Overall in the quarter, we had more than three hundred thousand new customers coming in at the same time as we gaining efficiency.

Speaker 2

So what does this mean for the progress and the path to restoring growth and phone subscribers.

Speaker 3

So if you look at the quarter again, we had three hundred thousand new customers coming in on wireless and broadband. We're building the network once, that is strategy and then getting as many profitable connection on top of it. So this quarter was three hundred thousand again, So that's why we're growing our business at the moment. And we had the first half YEARA or service revenue which we are

measured on is growing two point four percent. The overall revenue was growing five percent this quarter way over thirty four billion, was driven by a lot of upgrades on phones. So we have growth in our business right now and we're getting leverage on that because we're four percent growth on the bit that we have six percent growth on EPs, so clearly that is falling through and inefficiency work. So

we are very focused on the growth. We have many vectors of growth, but also we are very financial disciplined how we spend that money to grow that customer base.

Speaker 4

Curious to talk a little bit here about what you're seeing in the big beautiful bill, because you cited favorable tax reform as one of the things to be optimistic about. So walk us through specifically what benefits you see there from tax reform and how that translates into the next quarter, into the year ahead for example.

Speaker 3

Yeah, So when it comes to the bill that was passed, I mean there was one piece that is very important for our eyes and that's of course the depreciation we can directly on our capital investment that have this year an impact of one and a half billion, two billion dollars on a free cash flow. So it's significant together with our operation or cash from operation that is improving.

That's why we increase our guidance with the almost two billion in the quarter compared to the financial guidance wells from the beginning of the year. So that's one piece of the bill. Now, the piece of the bill is

of course that the government wants to watch an out spectrum. Again, varision is in a great positional spectrum today, but you know, over the time as we as a country want to be the most digitalized country in the world, where a spectrum needs to come out for six G and other technologies going forward, so we encourage we're very encouraged to see that as well. It's going to take time before that spectrum comes out for auction, but it's good that the government are thinking long term in this area.

Speaker 2

And tax impacts in particular. You know, your earnings are perhaps the more obvious first set of glaring results that show you a benefit immediately. But is this kind of a one time benefit or do you see some sort of ripple effect that comes out of that big beautiful bill for you and maybe even the rest of corporate America.

Speaker 4

Frankly, so, the.

Speaker 3

Tax benefit has not impacted our financials yet. That's going to be in the second half and then going into next year because it's a perpetual sort of benefit to have, so that will continue. So but I think for us, we are very disciplined with our capital. We already increased our capital for twenty twenty five compared to twenty twenty four. Now we have our frontier acquisition pending. We're waiting for

the lost approvers here. When that comes in, of course, we're going to make an holistic view how we're going to do capital allocation. Going forward, but always we put first priority in the business. Number Two, we have increased our dividend eighteen consecutive years, and we're going to put our board in a position to do that, and then we paint our debt to get our leverage rate too, and after that, including Frontier, we're also going to come

to buybacks. We're going to package that in the next couple of months and talk to the market how we see about the capital location and the benefits of incorporating Frontier when that's approved.

Speaker 4

Well, Hans, keep in touch as you make progress. They're a great to get some time with you on what I know is a busy morning. That is Hans Vestberg of Verizon

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