Verizon (Nasdaq: VZ) moved to a profit in its fourth quarter as it held onto more customers.
The stock rose more than 2 percent in premarket trading Thursday.
The largest U.S. cellphone carrier earned $5.39 billion, or $1.32 per share, for the period ended Dec. 31. That compares with a loss of $2.23 billion, or 54 cents per share, a year earlier.
Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring gains, came to 89 cents per share.
“Verizon embraced transformational change in 2015, and in 2016 the company has a huge opportunity to drive a new era of growth in our industry,” said Chairman and CEO Lowell McAdam.
“In 2015, Verizon delivered strong and balanced results in a dynamic competitive environment while returning more than $13.5 billion to shareholders. At the same time, Verizon built and acquired next-generation network capabilities that position the company to be an innovator in the digital-first mobile world in 2016 and beyond.”
The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 15 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 88 cents per share.
Revenue for the New York-based company totaled $34.25 billion, also exceeding Wall Street forecasts. Ten analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $34.13 billion in revenue.
Verizon said that wireless equipment revenue climbed to $5.4 billion from $4.2 billion as more customers bought new devices with installment pricing.
Churn, which accounts for the number of customers leaving, declined to 0.96 percent from 1.14 percent for the wireless postpaid business.
For the year, the company reported a profit of $17.88 billion, or $4.37 per share, on revenue of $131.62 billion. Its adjusted profit was $3.99 per share.
Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. added $1.08, or 2.4 percent, to $45.50 in premarket dealings about an hour before the market open.
