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TMUS Q3 Earnings Beat Estimates on Solid Demand for Postpaid Services

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Key Takeaways

  • T-Mobile's Q3 sales rose to $21.95B, surpassing estimates on strong postpaid service demand.
  • Postpaid revenues climbed 11.8% to $14.88B as customer additions hit 2.3M for the quarter.
  • TMUS raised 2025 guidance, forecasting up to 7.4M postpaid adds and $33.9B in core EBITDA.

T-Mobile US, Inc. (TMUS - Free Report) reported impressive third-quarter 2025 results, with both top and bottom lines beating the respective Zacks Consensus Estimate. This Bellevue, WA-based wireless service provider reported a top-line expansion backed by industry-leading postpaid customer growth. T-Mobile follows a multi-layer approach to 5G, with dedicated standalone 5G deployed nationwide across 600 MHz, 1.9 GHz and 2.5 GHz bands.

TMUS’ Net Income

Net income in the third quarter was $2.71 billion or $2.41 per share, down from $3.05 billion or $2.61 in the year-ago quarter. The 11.3% year-over-year decline was due to higher operating expenses and interest expenses. Adjusted EPS was $2.59 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.42.

T-Mobile US, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

T-Mobile US, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

T-Mobile US, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | T-Mobile US, Inc. Quote

TMUS’ Revenues

Net sales were $21.95 billion, up from $20.16 billion in the year-ago quarter, driven by solid growth in service revenues. The top line beat the consensus estimate of $21.78 billion.

TMUS’ Segment Results in Q3

Total Service revenues were $18.3 billion, up from $16.7 billion in the year-ago quarter. The segment’s net sales beat our revenue estimate of $17.6 billion. The 9.1% year-over-year growth was primarily driven by solid demand for postpaid services. Net sales from Postpaid Services contributed $14.88 billion in revenues, up 11.8% year over year.

During the quarter, T-Mobile added 2.3 million postpaid net customers and 396,000 postpaid net accounts. Postpaid phone net customer additions were 1 million. The postpaid phone churn rate was 0.89%. 5G broadband net customer additions were 506,000. Postpaid average revenues per account rose to $149.44 from $145.60 in the year-ago quarter.

Net sales from Prepaid services were $2.62 billion, down from $2.71 billion in the year-earlier quarter. Prepaid net customer addition was 43,000, with a churn rate of 2.77%. Wholesale and other service revenues increased to $734 million from $701 million in the year-earlier quarter.

Equipment revenues were $3.46 billion, up from $3.2 billion in the year-ago quarter. Moreover, the segment’s revenues missed our estimate of $3.5 billion. This improvement was primarily attributed to a higher average revenue per device sold, owing to an increase in the high-end phone mix.

Other revenues were $251 million, up from the prior-year quarter’s of $230 million.

Other Details for TMUS

Total operating expenses increased to $17.42 billion from $15.36 billion in the year-ago quarter. Operating income declined to $4.5 billion from $4.7 billion. T-Mobile recorded core adjusted EBITDA of $8.68 billion compared with $8.24 billion a year ago, backed by solid growth in service revenues.

TMUS’ Cash Flow & Liquidity

In the September quarter, T-Mobile generated $7.45 billion of cash from operating activities compared with $6.13 billion in the prior-year quarter. Adjusted free cash flow was $4.81 billion, down from $5.16 billion in the year-earlier quarter.

As of Sept. 30, 2025, the company had $3.31 billion in cash and cash equivalents, with $76.36 billion of long-term debt. During the quarter, it repurchased 10.2 million shares for $2.5 billion.

TMUS’ Outlook

Backed by solid customer addition, the company has upgraded its guidance for 2025. It now expects postpaid net customer additions to be between 7.2 million and 7.4 million, up from 6.1-6.4 million estimated earlier. Core adjusted EBITDA is estimated to be $33.7-$33.9 billion compared to $33.3-33.7 billion estimated earlier. It anticipates cash from operating activities in the range of $27.8-$28 billion. TMUS expects adjusted free cash flow in the band of $17.8-$18 billion. Capital expenditure is anticipated to be around $10 billion.

TMUS’ Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

T-Mobile carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

Ubiquiti Inc. (UI - Free Report) has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

In the last reported quarter, it delivered an earnings surprise of 82.47%. Ubiquiti spends significantly on research and development (R&D) activities for developing innovative products and state-of-the-art technology to expand its addressable market and remain at the cutting edge of networking technology. The company believes its new product pipeline will help it increase average selling prices for high-performance, best-value products, thus raising the top line. Ubiquiti is witnessing healthy traction in the Enterprise Technology segment.

Corning Incorporated (GLW - Free Report) currently carries a Zacks Rank #2. In the last reported quarter, it delivered an earnings surprise of 5.26%.

Corning’s competitive strength lies in its focus on innovation. The growing adoption of innovative optical connectivity products for generative AI applications is expected to be a key growth driver in its Optical Communication segment. Some of its businesses stand to benefit from government regulations. For example, the fiber optic business is a direct beneficiary of the government-mandated bridging of the digital divide across the United States.

Celestica (CLS - Free Report) carries a Zacks Rank #2 at present. In the last reported quarter, it delivered an earnings surprise of 12.1%. CLS delivered an earnings surprise of 7.71%, on average, in the trailing four quarters.

The growing proliferation of AI-based applications and generative AI tools across industries presents a solid growth opportunity for Celestica. In addition, a diligent focus on product diversification and increasing its presence in high-value markets is a tailwind.

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