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New York • Verizon Communications Inc. on Tuesday reported higher net income and revenue in its third quarter, helped by strong wireless subscriber growth and demand for its FiOS Internet services.
The New York-based company earned $3.69 billion, or 89 cents per share, up from $2.23 billion, or 78 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier, when the company had fewer outstanding shares.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting earnings of 90 cents per share.
The largest U.S. cellphone carrier posted revenue of $31.6 billion, up 4 percent from $30.3 billion a year earlier.
Analysts expected higher revenue of $32.2 billion, according to FactSet.
Verizon, which bought out its wireless division from British cellphone carrier Vodafone Group this year, said it added 1.5 million net retail wireless connections in the quarter. It ended September with 106.2 million wireless connections, including 100.1 million that involved monthly service contracts.
In a conference call with analysts, Chief Financial Officer Francis Shammo said promotion pricing has helped Verizon push customers into plans that should increase sales of phones using the more efficient 4G LTE network. Continued success in 4G adoption in the fourth quarter "will create profitable growth for us as we enter 2015 and beyond," Shammo said.
The company also added 162,000 FiOS Internet subscribers and 114,000 FiOS video net subscribers.
Verizon's shares rose 16 cents to $48.64 in morning trading Tuesday.
As of Monday's close, the shares had declined slightly more than 1 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has climbed 3 percent. The stock has fallen 3 percent in the last 12 months.