NEW YORK, December 30, 2025, 15:17 ET — Regular session
- Verizon shares rose about 0.5% in afternoon trading, steadying as U.S. stocks stayed muted in holiday-thin volumes.
- A Reuters report said the U.S. Justice Department is investigating corporate diversity programs under the False Claims Act, with Verizon named in a Wall Street Journal report.
- Verizon set January 30 for its fourth-quarter earnings report and webcast, giving investors the next firm catalyst on the calendar.
Verizon Communications Inc shares were up 0.5% at $40.69 in afternoon trading on Tuesday, bucking a mostly flat U.S. market as investors digested new regulatory scrutiny and looked ahead to the carrier’s next earnings update.
The latest headline matters because legal and compliance risk can move quickly for large government contractors, and telecoms are already grappling with intense competition and heavy capital spending. Any shift in policy pressure can influence costs, disclosures and management attention.
It also lands during year-end, low-liquidity trading, when relatively small flows can push defensive, dividend-heavy names around more than usual. Verizon’s next major catalyst is now dated: its fourth-quarter report is due January 30.
Reuters reported on Monday, citing a Wall Street Journal report, that the Trump administration has launched investigations into diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices in hiring and promotions at major U.S. companies, including Verizon and Google. DEI is shorthand for workplace programs aimed at broadening representation and opportunity.
The probes are being conducted under the False Claims Act, a civil fraud law that can let the U.S. government recover money it says was lost to false claims, Reuters reported. Reuters said it could not immediately verify the Journal report and that Verizon, Google and the Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment.
The broader tape was subdued. At 2:05 p.m. ET, the Dow was down 0.11%, the S&P 500 was off 0.04% and the Nasdaq was down 0.07%, Reuters reported.
“It’s just a healthy rebalancing of allocations more so than an emotionally driven sell-off (in tech),” said Mark Hackett, chief market strategist at Nationwide, in a separate market note. Reuters
Among Verizon’s wireless peers, AT&T was little changed and T-Mobile was up about 0.4% in the same window, keeping telecom moves mostly idiosyncratic rather than sector-wide.
On the company calendar, Verizon said it will report fourth-quarter 2025 earnings on Friday, January 30, 2026, and will host a webcast beginning at 8:00 a.m. ET. It said materials would be posted to its investor relations site at 6:30 a.m. ET.
Into that report, investors will focus on wireless subscriber trends, churn (how many customers leave), and whether pricing holds up against aggressive promotions across the industry. Traders will also watch cash generation, since telecom earnings are often judged as much on free cash flow as on profit.
Rates remain part of the backdrop for Verizon and other high-dividend telecoms, which many investors treat as “bond proxies” because the dividend can compete with fixed-income yields. In late-year trading, that makes the group sensitive to shifts in rate-cut expectations. Reuters
For now, the next markers are clarity on the Justice Department’s information requests and Verizon’s response, followed by the January earnings call for any read-through on competitive intensity and the 2026 outlook.
