New York, February 11, 2026, 15:18 EST — Regular session
Verizon Communications Inc climbed 2.4% to $48.54 by mid-afternoon Wednesday, part of a broad move higher across U.S. telecom. The shares swung between $47.12 and $49.13. AT&T added 2.9%, while T-Mobile US surged 3.9%.
Why does it matter? Investors have been counting on the big carriers for reliable cash and dividends, especially as the broader market lurches on fresh data. Still, it’s a game of price and perks. If subscriber numbers start to slip, sentiment can turn on a dime.
The bid on Wednesday made it clear: this group moves as a pack, reacting sharply to peer signals. A single carrier’s guidance has the power to flip the script on promo intensity and churn forecasts for everyone.
T-Mobile rolled out a revised 2027 forecast, raising targets for both service revenue and adjusted free cash flow. The driver: more customers shifting to pricier 5G plans bundled with streaming extras. But the company will quit reporting net postpaid phone subscriber gains, turning the spotlight onto account growth and ARPA—average revenue per account. That pivot drew fire from MoffettNathanson’s Craig Moffett, who didn’t mince words: “More is more.” T-Mobile CEO Srini Gopalan, for his part, pointed to a 13% ARPA jump since 2020. 1
Verizon shares have been on the upswing since late January, following upbeat forecasts for annual profit and free cash flow. The company also unveiled a $25 billion buyback plan. CEO Dan Schulman cast the move as a shift in strategy: “Verizon will no longer be a hunting ground for our competitors.” 2
Macro factors weren’t sidelined. Treasury yields climbed after a U.S. jobs report topped forecasts—benchmark 10-year yields hovered near 4.19%, up roughly 4.5 basis points, according to Reuters. Typically, rising yields sap demand for dividend stocks, yet telecoms still found support from buyers Wednesday. 3
Income still figures in. Verizon’s been handing out a quarterly dividend of $0.7075 a share; ex-dividend was April 10, and checks go out May 1. 4
Verizon grabbed some attention this week, rolling out a fresh Super Bowl LX marketing blitz. The telecom reported that its users chewed through 40.32 terabytes of data in and around Levi’s Stadium on Super Bowl Sunday. Median download speeds hit 2.16 gigabits per second during the busiest stretches—kickoff and halftime. 5
Still, there are obvious ways for this rally to hit a snag. On Tuesday, Washington put telecom in the hot seat: lawyers from Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile fielded pointed questions from senators over the handover of phone “toll records” linked to the January 6 investigation. Verizon’s Chris Miller, addressing the committee, admitted, “We should have had a better process,” though he insisted, “We followed the law.” If privacy or compliance issues ramp up — or if those aggressive wireless promos return — margins could get crunched fast, and churn, that ever-present measure of lost customers, would be back in the spotlight. 6
Verizon CFO Tony Skiadas will take the stage at the Barclays Communications and Content Symposium on Feb. 24, the company’s investor calendar shows. Investors are likely to key in on any new signals around promotions, cash flow, or execution as Verizon moves further into bundling its wireless and broadband offerings. 7
