Verizon raised its full-year subscriber and profit forecasts Monday after adding 406,000 postpaid phone connections in the third quarter. The company also announced an agreement worth more than $2 billion with Amazon Web Services.
In its October 26 results, Verizon said it now expects 1.1 million to 1.2 million postpaid phone net additions for 2026. Its previous forecast was the upper half of a 750,000 to 1 million range. Postpaid customers pay for service after using it.
The subscriber gain was nearly twice the 209,439 expected by analysts polled by Visible Alpha, Reuters reported. Revenue of $34.3 billion fell short of the $34.74 billion estimate compiled by LSEG.
Verizon reported net income of $5.3 billion and earnings of $1.25 per share. Adjusted earnings, which exclude special items, were $1.31 per share. The company raised its full-year adjusted earnings forecast to $5.04 to $5.06 per share.
Reuters said Verizon's AWS agreement covers high-capacity fiber connections for data centers supporting AI workloads. It follows a separate agreement worth more than $1 billion with Google announced in July.
Equipment revenue fell 9 percent from a year earlier. Verizon attributed the decline mainly to fewer phone upgrades as customers kept devices longer and the company reduced spending on device subsidies.
