Verizon Stock Climbs 0.9% Amid Outage Concerns Despite Churn Recovery Efforts

Verizon Communications Inc. gained 0.9% on Thursday even as a new outage disrupted service. By 12:52 p.m. PT, over 4,000 users had reported issues.

NEW YORK, September 3, 2026, 16:18 (EDT) —

  • By 12:52 p.m. PT, over 4,000 users had reported issues with Verizon.
  • Verizon stock finished at $50.67, gaining $0.45, or 0.9%.
  • A network outage in January cut first-quarter wireless service revenue by approximately 80 basis points.

Verizon Communications Inc. NYSE:VZ gained 0.9% on Thursday even as a new outage disrupted service. By 12:52 p.m. PT, over 4,000 users had reported issues GV Wire.

While the latest incident appeared minor compared to Verizon’s previous failures, recurring outages put pressure on its efforts to strengthen customer-retention performance.

Verizon ended the session at $50.67, rising by $0.45. The stock advanced 1.1% over five sessions, according to closing data MarketScreener.

Verizon shares rose across five sessions
NYSE close, U.S. dollars
$50.8$50.4$50.0Aug 28Aug 31Sep 1Sep 2Sep 3 $50.10$50.02$50.30$50.22$50.67

Source: MarketScreener. September 3 volume remained preliminary when captured.

The majority of recent reports involved mobile phone service. The tally reflects user submissions rather than individual impacted customers. Verizon could not be reached for immediate comment.

On August 8, a voice service outage triggered over 13,000 incident reports at its height. Verizon addressed and fixed the issue within a few hours CBS News.

The national outage in January impacted a much greater number. Over 170,000 incidents were logged, and regulators stated that millions experienced service disruption lasting ten hours or more FCC.

Current reports remain below earlier 2026 spikes
User-submitted issue reports; counts are not affected-customer totals
Sep. 3
4,000+ by 15:52 EDT
Aug. 8
13,000+ peak
Jan. 14
170,000+ peak

Sources: GV Wire, CBS News, and Reuters.

The January episode serves as a financial benchmark. Customer credits reduced first-quarter wireless service revenue by about 80 basis points.

Using the reported wireless service revenue of $20.6 billion, this represents roughly $165 million. TS2 calculated this estimate from Verizon’s disclosure earnings transcript.

By June, operations showed improvement. Verizon reported a net gain of 184,000 postpaid phone subscribers and posted quarterly free cash flow of $6.4 billion company results.

Chief Executive Dan Schulman stated that Verizon is “putting customers at the center of every decision.” He said reliability is key to delivering on that commitment.

What network reliability protects
Reported financial and operating markers, 2026
80 bpQ1 wireless service-revenue drag from January outage credits
≈$165mImplied Q1 revenue effect; TS2 estimate
184,000Q2 postpaid phone net additions
$6.4bnQ2 free cash flow, up 24.4% year over year

Sources: Verizon first-quarter transcript and second-quarter results.

Verizon ended Thursday trading at roughly 10.1 times the midpoint of its projected adjusted EPS for 2026. The company expects earnings per share between $4.99 and $5.04.

The next opportunity for management to present publicly is on September 9, when Schulman and CFO Tony Skiadas are set to participate in investor conferences Verizon.

Risks: Crowdsourced data does not confirm the scale or length of an outage. Short-term local issues may not have significant financial impact. Ongoing disruptions could raise credits, churn, repair costs and draw more regulatory attention.

The market on Thursday viewed the incident as routine operational activity. The January cost report could provide information that might alter that perspective.

Khadija Saeed

Khadija Saeed is a financial markets reporter at TS2.tech. Her coverage ranges from stocks and technology to emerging industries and developments across global markets. She studied economics and finance at the London School of Economics and worked in market research before becoming a financial journalist. Follow Khadija Saeed on Google News.

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