It hasn’t been an easy time in telecom this year as some of the biggest names in the sector have substantially underperformed.
AT&T stock (T) is down 20% year to date while Verizon stock (VZ) has fallen 12%. But comparatively, T-Mobile (TMUS) has held up well, with shares roughly flat since the beginning of the year.
And on Wednesday, T-Mobile hit a milestone, announcing it will issue its first-ever dividend to shareholders.
“We’re outperforming this whole sector on growth, and our capital priorities have not changed,” Sievert told Yahoo Finance Live (video above) at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia and Tech Conference in San Francisco. “It is to fund this historically great business plan, both organic and inorganic, core business as well as adjacencies.”
T-Mobile stock climbed 4% on Thursday afternoon following the dividend announcement.
“In 2021, we laid out an aspiration that was big and bold that we saw up to $60 billion in shareholder returns during our planning horizon,” Sievert added. “This is the second installment: $19 billion over the next five quarters and, as part of that, our first-ever dividend — a $3 billion annual dividend. That’s $3.75 billion over the next five quarters that we see increasing at about 10% a year.”
Telecom giants AT&T and Verizon are known for healthy dividends. AT&T pays about $8 billion while Verizon pays roughly $11 billion in annual stock dividends.
Looking ahead, Sievert is seeking to capitalize on this inflection point.
In the second quarter, T-Mobile’s postpaid net additions came in better than expected and fewer subscribers left the network, though overall sales dropped 2% year over year to $19.2 billion.
Sievert stated that investors can continue to expect industry-leading earnings growth and cash flow generation.
“What investors expect from us is ongoing, reliable growth, profitable growth that translates into industry-leading cash flow growth — and that’s what we deliver,” Sievert told Yahoo Finance Live. “We’ve been delivering it consistently over time, such that we believe it’s time to make the next installment of our longstanding aspirations around shareholder remuneration.”
Notably, there’s optimism out of Wall Street when it comes to T-Mobile. Currently, analysts’ recommendations on T-Mobile break down to 31 Buys, three Holds, and one Sell.
“T-Mobile remains our favorite stock across our coverage as we see substantial synergy and operating efficiencies driving strong EBITDA and cash flow growth, as well as substantial capital return,” JPMorgan’s Philip Cusick wrote in July.
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Allie Garfinkle is a Senior Tech Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter at @agarfinks and on LinkedIn.
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