Verizon Rides on Strength in Consumer Segment: Will it Sustain?

Verizon Communications Inc. VZ business has been witnessing healthy momentum in the Consumer segment. Strong postpaid phone subscriber momentum is the major growth driver. As of fourth-quarter 2025, the company’s wireless retail connections were 115.9 million, with wireless retail postpaid connections being 95.7 million, up from prior year reported figures of 115.3 million and 95.2 million, respectively. Consumer postpaid phone net adds were 551,000, the highest in five years.Management is relying on competitive offers to bring customers more value rather than just price hikes. Revenue growth is, for the most part, supported by subscriber expansion rather than ARPU inflation. A retail postpaid phone churn of 0.95% indicates healthy customer retention. The company’s wireless retail postpaid ARPA was $147.36 at the end of the fourth quarter, up 1.2% year over year.Fixed wireless access (FWA) broadband remains a major growth engine in this segment. Q4 fixed wireless net adds were 319,000. Total broadband net adds were 372,000, highlighting strengths in both FWA and fiber. Owing to these factors, revenues from the Consumer segment rose to $28.44 billion, up 3.2% year over year.The company’s convergence strategy, which is actually selling wireless and broadband as a bundled solution at a reasonable price, is driving customer additions. When customers get dependent on multiple services from a single vendor, it becomes difficult for them to change service providers. This higher switching friction lowers churn rate and boosts customer retention. Frontier acquisition has provided the company with a significant cross-selling opportunity.The company is actively investing in improving customer experience, proactive problem resolution and AI-driven personalized offers to users. These churn reduction initiatives bode well for sustainable growth.How Are Competitors Faring?Verizon operates in a highly competitive and saturated U.S. wireless market. It faces significant competition from T-Mobile, US, Inc. TMUS and AT&T, Inc. T. T-Mobile continues to boast a leadership position in the 5G market. Its Ultra Capacity 5G delivers superfast speeds, powering 5G smartphones and enabling innovators to deliver transformational 5G experiences. During the quarter, T-Mobile added 2.4 million postpaid net customers and 261,000 postpaid net accounts. Postpaid phone net customer additions were 962,000. The postpaid phone churn rate was 1.02%. Total Service revenues were $18.7 billion, up from $16.9 billion in the year-ago quarter.AT&T is investing in key areas of 5G and fiber and adjusting its business according to the evolving market scenario to fuel long-term growth. With a customer-centric business model, AT&T is witnessing healthy momentum in its postpaid wireless business with a lower churn rate and increased adoption of higher-tier unlimited plans. AT&T witnessed solid subscriber momentum with 641,000 post-paid net additions. This included 421,000 postpaid wireless phone additions. Postpaid churn was 1.12%. Its Communications revenue increased to $32.12 billion, from $31.14 billion a year ago.VZ’s Price Performance, Valuation and EstimatesVerizon has declined 2.2% over the past year against the Wireless National industry’s growth of 18.8%.Image Source: Zacks Investment ResearchGoing by the price/earnings ratio, the company’s shares currently trade at 9.93, down from 13.32 for the industry.Image Source: Zacks Investment ResearchVZ’s earnings estimates for 2025 and 2026 have increased over the past 60 days.Image Source: Zacks Investment ResearchVerizon currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.5 Stocks Set to DoubleEach was handpicked by a Zacks expert as the #1 favorite stock to gain +100% or more in the coming year. While not all picks can be winners, previous recommendations have soared +112%, +171%, +209% and +232%.Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar, which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor.Today, See These 5 Potential Home Runs >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report AT&T Inc. (T): Free Stock Analysis Report Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ): Free Stock Analysis Report T-Mobile US, Inc. (TMUS): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks