NEW YORK, June 4, 2026, 18:59 (EDT)
AT&T Inc. fell 3.3% to end at $22.77 Thursday. Investors dealt with a Supreme Court ruling going against the company and a new warning from Wall Street about satellite rivals. Shares hit a low of $22.34 intraday. Volume passed 82 million shares.
The move was notable since the broader market stayed firm. The S&P 500 gained 0.41%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.73% and set a new record close. Tech was mixed—Nasdaq lagged, as chip stocks fell after Broadcom’s results. SpaceX started its investor roadshow Thursday ahead of its June 12 IPO, with Reuters saying the company is targeting $75 billion at a $1.75 trillion valuation.
That is what’s hanging over AT&T now. The shares are moving not only on subscriber numbers and payouts, but on whether the company’s focus on fiber broadband works as low Earth orbit satellites, which can reduce lag by flying closer to the planet, get seen as a real internet option for consumers.
Pressure from legal risk hit the sector. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that the FCC can use internal procedures to issue fines, siding with regulators over AT&T and Verizon. The FCC had fined AT&T $57 million and Verizon $47 million after saying the companies sold customer location data without permission. Both firms paid the penalty but fought the method in court.
Verizon lost 3.8% to $44.87 and T-Mobile dropped 2.4% to $177.02. The selloff weighed on the whole U.S. wireless sector, not only AT&T.
Oppenheimer cut AT&T to “Perform” from “Outperform,” warning that satellite low Earth orbit rivals could threaten longer-run broadband growth and possibly mobile. The firm said AT&T is more exposed to broadband than other telecoms, but has less risk than cable. Investing.com
Oppenheimer’s Timothy Horan thinks satellite operators will add over 2 million subscribers a year and take around 10% of the fixed broadband market by 2030, Barchart reported. Horan pointed to “strong regulatory support behind satellites,” which investors have tied to SpaceX and its move into mobile connectivity. Barchart.com
AT&T is changing its fiber home internet plans. The company said Wednesday it will cut the lineup to four speed tiers — 300 Mbps, 500 Mbps, 1 GIG and 5 GIG — starting June 7. Customers who bundle wireless and internet could get up to $420 in yearly savings. Jenifer Robertson, executive vice president and general manager of AT&T Consumer, called the new plans “packed with value, savings.” AT&T Newsroom
AT&T’s first-quarter results in April gave bulls some ammunition. The company posted $31.5 billion in revenue and 294,000 net adds for its postpaid phone plans. Free cash flow was $2.5 billion, lower than last year as spending on fiber rose. AT&T still says it’s on track to hit more than 40 million fiber locations by 2026 and over 60 million by 2030.
Chief Executive John Stankey said at the time AT&T posted its “best first quarter ever” for net adds in advanced connectivity internet customers. But now investors are focused less on last quarter’s numbers and more on how much it will cost to keep that growth going.
The satellite angle isn’t all bad news for carriers. In May, Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile said they would work together on a joint venture that aims to use satellite direct-to-device tech to help plug rural gaps. The FCC cleared EchoStar to sell wireless spectrum to SpaceX and AT&T. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr told Reuters that Starlink has a “very clear pathway” to get into the direct-to-cell business. Reuters
The risk is clear. If satellite broadband eats into the market more quickly than expected, AT&T could face big fiber build costs and see weaker customer growth and prices. If that risk shows up slower or in a smaller segment, Thursday’s drop may just mark a shift in sentiment, not a change in the company’s direction.
AT&T’s CFO Pascal Desroches is set to speak at the Mizuho Technology Conference on June 9, giving investors a look at how management is handling things. AT&T also reports its second-quarter earnings before the New York Stock Exchange opens July 22.
