Key Trends To Watch As Verizon Reports Q4 Results

Verizon (NYSE:VZ) is scheduled to publish its Q4 2017 results on January 23, reporting on a quarter that likely saw the carrier continue its momentum in the postpaid wireless space. Below, we take a look at what to expect when Verizon reports its numbers.

We have a price estimate of $52 for Verizon’s stock, which is roughly in line with the current market price.

Postpaid Business To Remain Strong

Verizon’s postpaid wireless phone subscriber additions should remain strong, driven by its unlimited data plans.  Moreover, the carrier could also benefit from less aggressive device promotions from Sprint and T-Mobile over the holidays, as well as T-Mobile’s decision to incrementally increase pricing on some plans in early Q3 2017. That said, Verizon’s move to divide its unlimited offerings into three separate plans in late August, with caps on video resolution and stricter throttling policies that could partially impact its new activations (related: Why Verizon Had To Rethink Its Unlimited Strategy). During Q3 2017, the carrier added a total of 603k retail postpaid subscribers, marking a 36% improvement over the last year, with smartphone additions coming in at 486k, up from 242k in Q3 2016. Retail Postpaid phone churn levels, which stood at just 0.75% in Q3 2017, likely remained low over the fourth quarter. Verizon’s prepaid operations may also continue to gain traction. The carrier has been tweaking its prepaid offerings to offer unlimited data and family accounts, posting net adds of about 139k in the last quarter.

Updates On Emerging Businesses

We will also be looking for updates on Verizon’s emerging businesses, such as media and the Internet of Things. The company’s Oath division – which is focused on digital media, digital advertising, online services, and software – saw revenues of about $2 billion during Q3 2017, and it’s possible that revenues will grow over the holiday quarter. Verizon has indicated that Oath has around 1 billion monthly unique users across its AOL and Yahoo platforms (related: Where Will Verizon’s Oath Stand In The Digital Advertising Market?). We will also be tracking the performance of the company’s Telematics business, which includes its Fleetmatics and Telogis operations. Telematics revenues stood at over $220 million during Q3’17.

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