New York, June 14, 2026, 16:57 (EDT)
- AT&T finished Friday at $23.58, adding 2.52%. That move topped the S&P 500’s 0.50% climb and the Dow’s 0.70% advance.
- Freedom Broker started coverage with a Buy rating and set a $30 price target in a new bullish call on June 12.
- AT&T’s second-quarter earnings hit July 22, with investors set to look at subscriber numbers, fiber performance, and free cash flow.
AT&T Inc. shares bounced hard Friday, ending the session at $23.58, up 58 cents or 2.52%. After hours, the stock eased back to $23.53. AT&T’s gains outpaced the S&P 500, which added 0.5%, and also topped the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which rose 0.7%.
Analyst activity hit AT&T again. On June 12, Freedom Broker started coverage with a Buy and set a $30 target, Benzinga data show. That target is above where AT&T closed Friday. Price targets set an analyst’s view of where a stock might go in the next 12 months. According to Investing.com, the wider analyst view on AT&T is also positive, with 16 Buy and 10 Hold calls, no Sells, and the group’s average 12-month target is $30.28.
AT&T is still seeing growth from its wireless and fiber push, bulls say. Advanced Connectivity service revenue climbed 3.6% in the first quarter from a year ago. Segment operating income rose 14.8% and EBITDA was up 5.6%; EBITDA stands for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, a widely used profitability metric. The company posted 584,000 net internet adds, split between fiber and fixed wireless, and recorded 294,000 postpaid phone net adds.
AT&T (T) posted first-quarter postpaid phone net adds above FactSet’s call for 272,000. Revenue reached about $31.5 billion, beating the analyst forecast of $31.25 billion from LSEG, Reuters said. The article flagged bundling’s role: roughly 42% of AT&T’s home internet customers also have wireless plans. “Data is going to be the revenue of the future,” said Brian Mulberry, chief market strategist at Zacks Investment Management. Reuters
AT&T’s bear case is focused on cash flow, capex, and more rivals. Reuters said AT&T shares dropped after its Q1 report when the company guided second-quarter free cash flow between $4.0 billion and $4.5 billion, missing the $4.6 billion analyst consensus from Visible Alpha. Free cash flow, what’s left after ops and investment, is key for AT&T’s dividends, debt, and network spend.
AT&T’s shares are still trading at a low valuation, but there are risks. WSJ market data put AT&T at a trailing P/E of 7.91 and a dividend yield of 4.71% as of June 12. The price-to-earnings ratio looks at share price versus earnings per share and is a basic gauge on value and growth potential. The board last set a common dividend of $0.2775 a share, payable May 1, which keeps income investors interested.
Satellite broadband is now a real risk that telecom investors are watching. Reuters reported earlier this month that Oppenheimer sees SpaceX’s Starlink as a disruptor for the $1.6 trillion U.S. communications sector, with legacy broadband names like AT&T among the most exposed. For AT&T shares, the threat is that any weak spot in broadband or wireless subscriber growth could upset the market’s current bet that fiber and 5G are enough to overcome legacy declines.
AT&T’s Q2 2026 results hit before the NYSE opens on July 22, with an 8:30 a.m. ET call to follow. Right now, verified data points to AT&T as moderately attractive for income investors—low P/E, solid dividend, analyst upside—but this is not a low-risk name. The July print will need to prove that subscriber adds and Advanced Connectivity revenue translate into free cash flow strong enough to cover the dividend, keep up network spend, and support the balance sheet.
