NEW YORK, July 6, 2026, 05:02 (EDT)
- AT&T traded at $20.58 just before the NYSE open, up roughly 0.4% from its last close. Market cap is $144.6 billion and the P/E ratio sits at 6.9.
- Shares dropped 9.4% during the holiday-shortened week, logging their steepest weekly loss since July 2022 as the market weighed the risk of a mobile challenge from Starlink.
- The drop wiped out about as much in equity value as AT&T’s more than $18 billion free-cash-flow target for 2026, adding new pressure ahead of the July 10 record date for the common dividend.
AT&T Inc. NYSE:T opened Monday dealing with issues on both its dividend and share price. The stock was last at $20.58 before the main NYSE session kicked off at 9:30 a.m. U.S. markets had been closed Friday for Independence Day observance.
AT&T shed almost $18 billion in market cap in the holiday-shortened week, Barron’s said. That’s about the same as the $18 billion in free cash flow AT&T expects in 2026. The Starlink story took nearly a year’s worth of cash flow off the stock’s value—an issue for holders who bought in for AT&T’s cash returns.
| AT&T cash-return item | Latest figure | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Market value lost in shortened week | About $17.89 billion | That’s close to what AT&T expects for 2026 free cash flow |
| 2026 free-cash-flow outlook | $18 billion+ | Supports both dividends and share buybacks |
| Current annualized common dividend | $1.11 a share | Dividend record date comes up July 10 |
| Implied annual common dividend cash cost | About $7.80 billion | This week’s market value loss equals nearly 2.3 years of dividend |
| Planned 2026 buybacks | About $8 billion | Buybacks and the dividend together don’t match what the market just erased |
AT&T’s board set its quarterly common dividend at $0.2775 a share. The dividend goes to shareholders on record by July 10, with payment on Aug. 3. Based on the recent share price, the annualized yield comes to about 5.39%.
Wireless stocks saw mixed moves. T-Mobile US Inc. NASDAQ:TMUS, which has a U.S. Starlink deal, traded up ahead of the bell. Space Exploration Technologies Corp. NASDAQ:SPCX posted gains, too.
| Company/security | Latest quote | Move from prior close | Market value | P/E |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AT&T Inc. NYSE:T | $20.58 | up 0.4% | $144.6 bln | 6.9 |
| Verizon Communications Inc. NYSE:VZ | $42.56 | up 1.3% | $179.2 bln | 10.4 |
| T-Mobile US Inc. NASDAQ:TMUS | $177.52 | rose 2.6% | $195.6 bln | 18.9 |
| Space Exploration Technologies Corp. NASDAQ:SPCX | $162.00 | added 2.7% | n/a | n/a |
| Charter Communications Inc. NASDAQ:CHTR | $137.20 | fell 1.9% | $17.4 bln | 3.7 |
| SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust NYSEARCA:SPY | $744.78 | off 0.1% | $659.5 bln | n/a |
SpaceX is causing the pressure with its mobile plan. Reuters said on June 26, citing Financial Times, that SpaceX told investors it wants to roll out a Starlink mobile service for U.S. consumers. The company is also looking at its own retail product and terrestrial mobile network. Reuters could not confirm the report right away.
Oppenheimer’s Timothy Horan sized up the risk at the big end of the market. “SpaceX will disrupt the $1.6 [trillion] communications industry,” Horan wrote in a recent note, according to MarketWatch. MarketWatch
Wolfe Research’s Peter Supino says the big risk is to market structure. Supino told Fierce Network, “A better outcome for everybody, from a profitability perspective, would be for Starlink to buy a network rather than create a fourth U.S. mobile competitor.” Fierce Network
AT&T is sticking to its fiber-and-wireless package. CEO John Stankey in April said the company can deliver “fiber and 5G all from one provider.” First quarter numbers: 294,000 postpaid phone net adds, 584,000 advanced connectivity internet net adds, and over 37 million fiber locations reached. AT&T Newsroom
AT&T’s operating base trades nowhere near a T-Mobile multiple. The latest P/E for AT&T was 6.9, with Verizon at 10.4. T-Mobile showed a much higher 18.9 in the same pre-market quote run.
Debt is still a key factor in the discount. AT&T finished the first quarter with $138.4 billion in total debt and $126.4 billion in net debt. The company is sticking with plans to send more than $45 billion back to shareholders from 2026 to 2028 via dividends and buybacks.
AT&T has a dividend record date coming up on July 10. The company will report Q2 earnings before the NYSE opens July 22, with its call set for 8:30 a.m. ET.
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