New York, April 28, 2026, 08:09 (EDT)
• Verizon has raised its 2026 adjusted EPS goal after booking its strongest quarterly adjusted EPS growth in three years.
• Postpaid phone net adds flipped positive in the first quarter—the first time that’s happened since 2013.
• CEO Dan Schulman is now staring down fresh challenges: churn, slashing customer costs, and the ongoing Frontier fiber deal are up next for his turnaround push.
Verizon Communications raised its 2026 adjusted profit forecast on the heels of a spring gain in postpaid phone customers—a rare first-quarter increase that signals momentum for new CEO Dan Schulman’s turnaround push. The carrier added 55,000 net postpaid phone lines, snapping a first-quarter losing run that had held since 2013.
Timing matters. Postpaid phone users—those paying monthly—remain the core revenue engine in the U.S. wireless sector, so competition centers on this group. Verizon has been trying to cut churn after ceding ground to T- Mobile and AT&T in recent years, while cable operators keep pushing bundled mobile and broadband deals.
Schulman took over as CEO last October after leading PayPal, shifting the company’s strategy toward customer loyalty rather than just raising prices. On the earnings call, he called churn “the clearest measure” of whether the new strategy is landing with customers, Fortune reported. Fortune
Verizon’s first-quarter revenue climbed 2.9% to $34.4 billion, while net income inched up 3.3% to $5.1 billion. Diluted earnings per share came in at $1.20. Adjusted EPS, which excludes certain items and isn’t calculated under GAAP, saw a 7.6% jump to $1.28. Adjusted EBITDA hit $13.4 billion for the period.
The company bumped up its 2026 adjusted EPS target to $4.95–$4.99, marking a 5% to 6% increase from the last projection. As for retail postpaid phone net additions, executives expect those to end up in the top half of the earlier 750,000 to 1 million range.
Wall Street came in bracing for weaker subscriber numbers. Investor’s Business Daily noted analysts were eyeing a loss of 88,000 postpaid phone customers for Verizon. Adjusted EPS landed above the $1.19 consensus, but revenue couldn’t clear the $34.8 billion mark analysts expected.
Schulman highlighted what he sees as clear momentum in the turnaround, citing lower churn and better customer economics. Most striking: Verizon managed to post its first positive first-quarter postpaid phone net adds in more than a decade. Executives credited the shift to fewer across-the-board promotions, focusing instead on more selective deals.
Verizon’s tighter cost discipline is making a difference beyond just subscriber gains. Schulman noted acquisition and retention expenses fell by about 35% from the end of Q4 to March. Those cuts, coupled with improvements in churn and unit economics, are already lifting free cash flow, Fortune reported. Consumer postpaid phone churn was at 90 basis points for the quarter, slipping below 85 in March, according to Fortune.
Verizon has managed to attract more new customers than it did a year ago, Morningstar Equity Director Michael Hodel told Fortune, but he also pointed out churn is still elevated as rivals ramp up competitive pressure. Morningstar continues to peg the stock’s fair value at $53, keeping its narrow economic moat rating intact.
Verizon’s broadband business kept up its momentum, reporting 341,000 net new customers for the quarter—split between 214,000 fixed wireless access additions and 127,000 new fiber subscribers. The total base reached about 16.8 million fixed wireless and fiber broadband connections by quarter’s end. In contrast, cable player Charter Communications saw broadband subscriber numbers dip, according to the Wall Street Journal.
After finalizing its Jan. 20 acquisition, Verizon absorbed Frontier Communications’ numbers, driving total unsecured debt up to $142.5 billion by quarter-end—an increase from $131.1 billion at the close of 2025. The deal is tied to Verizon’s larger fiber strategy. According to the company, about half of Frontier’s debt has already been paid down, with plans to retire most of the remainder before year-end.
Risks are still hanging over the story. Revenue landed shy of forecasts, and the fixed wireless broadband subscriber numbers missed the mark Investor’s Business Daily flagged. Verizon blamed a network outage in January, saying it cost about 80 basis points of wireless service revenue growth for the quarter. The big unknown is whether churn stays down without heavier promotions, as AT&T, T-Mobile and cable rivals keep up the pressure on pricing, bundles and home internet offerings.
Verizon wrapped up Monday at $47.04, up 1.43%. In premarket trading Tuesday, shares looked set to start around $47.10. The price action? Mostly muted. Attention, though, is drifting away from just the numbers. Investors now seem more focused on how well Verizon is holding onto its existing customers.
