The US largest wireless carrier, those guys and gals decked in red and black, reported its sixth straight quarter of growth in earning and operating income -- Verizon Wireless reported its operating income in second quarter of 2014 grew by 17.2 percent and its untaxed earnings beat its margin by 37.6 percent.
Verizon reported that its year-over-year, earnings per share -- which stood at $1.01 for the second quarter of 2014 -- have grown by double digits over the previous 10 quarters.
Lowell McAdam, Verizon CEO and chairman, said Verizon's second quarter report was evidence of the company's ability to grow both its customer base and finances, while remaining on top in a competitive and evolving landscape.
"We have great momentum heading into the second half of the year," said McAdam. "We remain focused on profitable growth and on meaningful network investments that provide our customers with the best, and with a continuously improving, overall experience."
Compared to the same period in 2013, Verizon's consolidated operating income margin of 24.4 percent for the second quarter of 2014 was 2 percent higher and its $31.5 billion in total operating revenues was up by 5.7 percent. It said its earnings were driven by revenue generated from postpaid phones, including a larger penetration of smartphones, and tablet sales.
Craig Moffett, MoffettNathanson's head analyst, said Verizon's devotion to two-year contracts has helped the company thrive, but indicated trends from other top carriers could cause the top dog to adopt new tactics.
"Verizon has maintained all along that the industry shouldn't be so quick to abandon a strategy that has served it awfully well for last decade," said Moffett. "The risk is that the other carriers will continue to test lower and lower prices until the market finds a new equilibrium and that Verizon will be increasingly isolated at the high end of the market."
Verizon said its wireline services, FIOS in particular, continued to growth during the second quarter, expanding by more the 4 percent eight months in a row - it said it served 9.1 million customers with broadband Internet service during the second quarter. It said it added roughly 139,000 new FIOS connections and migrated approximately 70,000 customers from copper connections to fiber-optic lines during the second quarter.
The introduction of its symmetrical transfer rates, with upload speeds finally catching up to the pace of downloads, Verizon will likely attract even more customers to FIOS. Verizon said the upgrade to symmetrical uploads and download wouldn't cause a hike in FIOS prices.
