AT&T 1-Year Turnaround… Not Enough to back the CEO

AT&T 1-Year Turnaround… Not Enough to back the CEO (SeekingAlpha)

Following closely in Daimler AG’s footsteps, AT&T’s (NYSE: T) Q413 figures also were buoyed by a one-time gain — attributed to the company’s pension plan — which boosted earnings per share by 21 percent. After the market’s close on Tuesday, AT&T reported Q4 net income of $6.9 billion ($1.31 per share), as opposed to Q4 2012’s loss of $3.9 billion (68 cents per share). Despite this seemingly giant step in the right direction, AT&T management is not entirely convinced that it has found the right recipe for long-term success, as the board recently extended CEO Randall L. Stephenson’s contract three years — which many in the industry saw as a snub. For investors, though, Stephenson’s doing a whale of a job as AT&T has paid out more than $9.8 billion in cash dividends and repurchased $15.5 in common shares.

Wayne Ellis

Wayne Ellis has been involved in the financial publishing industry for more than 15 years. During that time, he has helped to edit, to market and to launch products and services for Ernst & Young, LLC, Fidelity Investments, Agora, LLC, and Eagle Financial Publications. He currently puts his broad-based experience and industry expertise to use as a contributing writer for Eagle Financial Publications. He also is a graduate of Arizona State University.