Want To Invest In AT&T Inc (T)? Here’s How It Performed Lately
For investors, increase in profitability and industry-beating performance can be essential considerations in an investment. Below, I will examine AT&T Inc’s (NYSE:T) track record on a high level, to give you some insight into how the company has been performing against its long term trend and its industry peers. View our latest analysis for AT&T
How Did T’s Recent Performance Stack Up Against Its Past?
I like to use the ‘latest twelve-month’ data, which annualizes the most recent half-year data, or in some cases, the latest annual report is already the most recent financial year data. This method allows me to assess different stocks in a uniform manner using the most relevant data points. For AT&T, the most recent earnings is $12,850M, which, against the prior year’s figure, has fallen by -11.65%. Given that these figures may be relatively short-term thinking, I have computed an annualized five-year figure for AT&T’s net income, which stands at $11,420M. This means despite the fact that earnings declined against the previous year, over a longer period of time, AT&T’s profits have been increasing on average.
How has it been able to do this? Well, let’s take a look at if it is only due to industry tailwinds, or if AT&T has seen some company-specific growth. The ascend in earnings seems to be supported by a robust top-line increase beating its growth rate of expenses. Though this has caused a margin contraction, it has made AT&T more profitable. Looking at growth from a sector-level, the US diversified telecommunication services industry has been growing, albeit, at a subdued single-digit rate of 9.88% in the past twelve months, and 4.45% over the past five. This shows that any tailwind the industry is benefiting from, AT&T has not been able to reap as much as its industry peers.
What does this mean?
Though AT&T’s past data is helpful, it is only one aspect of my investment thesis. Companies are profitable, but have volatile earnings, can have many factors affecting its business. I suggest you continue to research AT&T to get a better picture of the stock by looking at:
1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for T’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for T’s outlook.
2. Financial Health: Is T’s operations financially sustainable? Balance sheets can be hard to analyze, which is why we’ve done it for you. Check out our financial health checks here.
3. Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here.
NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.
To help readers see pass the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price sensitive company announcements.
The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned.
