AT&T Reports Earnings Wednesday. The Lead Issue Might Not Be Cleared Up.

For the same period a year earlier, AT&T reported earnings of 65 cents a share on revenue of $29.64 billion. 

A more important share driver than the earnings could be any comments on AT&T’s expectations for its lead-sheathed cable liability. The Wall Street Journal reported in early July that thousands of miles of copper cables wrapped in lead were still in service throughout America, with high levels of lead contamination in the immediate environment.

AT&T shares hit a 30-year low in reaction to the report over fears it could be forced to pay for removal of the cables it owns and face potential lawsuits over the related environmental and health risks. However, the stock has partially rebounded as analysts have revised downwards their estimates on the potential costs exposure. 

AT&T has said less than 10% of its 2 million miles of copper cabling is sheathed in lead, with more than two-thirds of that buried in a conduit and the rest being overhead cables. 

However, there might not be any news to report. Rival telecoms company

Verizon Communications

(VZ) said Tuesday that it was too early to estimate any costs related to lead-wrapped cables as it was still running its own tests.

Apart from the lead issue, a major focus will be subscriber numbers. AT&T is expected to report around 342,500 postpaid phone subscriber net additions for the quarter, according to FactSet which would be its lowest figure since early 2020. Verizon beat expectations in its own earnings report as it reported an unexpected increase in wireless subscriber numbers. 

Write to Adam Clark at [email protected]