New York, Feb 13, 2026, 07:46 EST — Premarket
- AT&T dipped roughly 0.2% in premarket trading, still hovering close to its recent peak.
- RBC bumped its price target up to $31 while reiterating an Outperform rating.
- All eyes on the U.S. January CPI, coming at 8:30 a.m. ET, as traders watch rates.
AT&T Inc (T) slipped 0.2% to $28.76 ahead of the bell Friday. RBC Capital bumped its target up to $31 from $29, sticking with its Outperform call on the telecom group.
Timing is key here. With U.S. inflation data looming, investors are on edge—Treasury yields could swing, and expectations for Fed rate cuts might get a shakeup after that hard tech-driven drop on Wall Street. “Equity momentum is no longer automatic,” BNY strategist Bob Savage cautioned in a note. Reuters
AT&T looked solid again Thursday, gaining 1.16% to finish at $28.80—marking a third consecutive advance. Trading volume cleared the 50-day average by a wide margin, according to market data. Shares stood roughly 3% under the 52-week peak from September.
RBC’s call zeroed in on cash flow and fiber bets. The broker flagged “stronger confidence in AT&T’s growth and shareholder return profile” on the heels of year-end numbers and segment restatements. Analyst Jonathan Atkin highlighted fiber build-out as a “long-term growth trajectory,” arguing that “accelerated unwind of the legacy portfolio” could spark “material FCF expansion into 2028 and beyond.” Investing.com
Free cash flow, or FCF, refers to the cash left over after a company handles its capital expenditures. In telecom, that’s the pile that covers dividends and debt—sometimes, when the balance sheet looks healthy enough, it ends up funding buybacks too.
AT&T isn’t alone: telecom names caught a bid. Verizon pushed higher Thursday, setting a fresh 52-week high. T-Mobile advanced, too. Investors shrugged off the broader market’s weakness and kept buying.
According to a Reuters survey, economists are looking for a 0.3% increase in the Consumer Price Index for January, with the same rise expected for core CPI, which excludes food and energy. “Firms tend to raise prices at the beginning of the year, after the holiday season,” said Diego Anzoategui, economist at Morgan Stanley. Reuters
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics plans to release January’s CPI report at 8:30 a.m. ET this Friday, its calendar shows.
Even so, calling the stock “defensive” doesn’t always work in its favor. When yields climb on a stronger number, dividend names can lose their appeal; a softer reading, though, tends to steer investors toward riskier bets instead.
Then there’s that ever-present industry headache: price wars. When competitors ramp up promotions chasing postpaid subscribers, service revenue might not drop, but margins take a hit. Investors may start to rethink how much those stable cash flows are worth.
Last month, AT&T projected 2026 adjusted earnings of $2.25 to $2.35 a share, beating expectations. The company is counting on its bets in fiber and spectrum to drive that growth.
