Key Highlights

● Total Operating Revenue was $34.3 billion, up 1.5% year over year.

● Verizon added 406,000 postpaid phone net customers in the quarter.

● Free Cash Flow rose 12.1% to $7.8 billion.

● The board raised the quarterly Dividend to $0.7075 per share.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) enters the week of November 9, 2026 with a fresh set of third-quarter numbers and a higher full-year outlook. In its October 26 release, the company reported a sharp rebound in postpaid phone additions, faster free cash flow growth and its third consecutive guidance increase for 2026. At the same time, the stock is no longer part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, a change that reshaped its profile in June.

Latest Company Context

According to Verizon's third-quarter 2026 Earnings release, dated October 26, 2026, total operating revenue was $34.3 billion, up 1.5% year over year. Net Income was $5.3 billion, and Earnings Per Share were $1.25, compared with $1.17 a year earlier. Adjusted EPS, a non-GAAP measure, was $1.31, up 8.3%. Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA reached $13.8 billion, up 8.0%.

Customer momentum stood out. The company reported 406,000 postpaid phone net additions in the quarter, up more than 820% from the prior-year period, along with 137,000 postpaid net account additions. Broadband added 314,000 connections, split between 155,000 fiber and 159,000 fixed wireless access, bringing total broadband connections to 17.4 million. Chief Executive Dan Schulman said the company is "fundamentally stronger" one year into its transformation.

Key Business and index Drivers

Cash generation is a central theme. Operating Cash Flow was $11.5 billion, up 2.2%, and free cash flow was $7.8 billion, up 12.1%. The board declared a quarterly dividend of $0.7075 per share, up from $0.69. Verizon also repurchased $4.0 billion of stock in the first nine months and said it expects up to $4.5 billion for the full year, which helped reduce shares outstanding to 4,145 million from 4,217 million at the end of 2025.

The release also described an agreement valued at more than $2.0 billion with Amazon Web Services to support distributed compute for AI workloads, a possible new revenue avenue, though its financial contribution is not quantified. On index matters, According to market data from June 30, 2026, Verizon was dropped from the Dow Jones Industrial Average before trading on June 29, with Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) taking a place.

What Investors Should Watch

Company guidance is the clearest benchmark. For 2026, Verizon now expects 1.1 million to 1.2 million postpaid phone net additions, adjusted EPS of $5.04 to $5.06, operating cash flow growth of 3.5% to 5.0%, and free cash flow growth of roughly 12%, equal to $22.44 billion to $22.54 billion. Capital expenditures are guided to $16.0 billion to $16.5 billion, unchanged.

Investors may watch whether subscriber growth holds as promotional intensity changes, whether business-segment service revenue, which declined 0.8% in the quarter, stabilizes, and how Leverage evolves. Net unsecured Debt was $123.7 billion at September 30, 2026, or 2.3 times consolidated Adjusted EBITDA, while total debt was $166.2 billion. Execution on fiber build-out, with total passings expected to exceed 32 million by year-end, may also matter.

Rebound, Guidance and the Dow Exit

Verizon's third-quarter report combined confirmed improvement in customer additions, earnings and cash flow with higher company guidance, while the removal from the Dow was a notable change in how the stock is categorized. Whether the improved trend continues will depend on competition, business-segment performance and balance-sheet management.