T-Mobile US, Inc. (NASDAQ: TMUS) reported fourth quarter and full-year 2023 results late yesterday, delivering what it called “industry-best growth in service revenues, profitability and cash flow in 2023.”
The company said it will continue executing its “best-in-class capital return program” having delivered $14 billion to stockholders in 2023. Never short on hyperbolic language, the company said it effectively completed its “historic” merger integration, and cemented itself as “the nationwide overall network leader.”
“This was a historic year for T-Mobile, with record outcomes across nearly every metric and industry-leading customer results – including our highest share of postpaid phone net adds since the merger and best-in-class growth in service revenues, profitability and cash flow – all while effectively completing the largest, most successful telecom integration in the world,” said Mike Sievert, CEO of T-Mobile. “What’s really exciting is that while we’ve delivered fantastic results, we’ve also got room to run. Thanks to the unmatched value and network leadership that we’ve built, we’re entering a phase of enormous value creation with a plan to deliver sustained customer and financial growth leadership. This is just the beginning of the next chapter for the Un-carrier.”
Highlights included:
- Postpaid net customer additions are expected to be between 5 and 5.5 million, expected to lead the industry for the 10th consecutive year.
- Core Adjusted EBITDA, which is Adjusted EBITDA less lease revenues, is expected to be between $31.3 billion and $31.9 billion, up 9% year-over-year at the midpoint.
- Net cash provided by operating activities, including payments for Merger-related costs, is expected to be between $21.5 billion and $22.3 billion, up 18% at the mid-point.
- Cash purchases of property and equipment, including capitalized interest, are expected to be between $8.6 billion and $9.4 billion.
- Adjusted Free Cash Flow, including payments for Merger-related costs, is expected to be between $16.3 billion and $16.9 billion, up approximately 22 percent year-over-year at the mid-point. Adjusted Free Cash Flow guidance does not assume any material net cash inflows from securitization.
- Total service revenues increased 3% year-over-year to $16.0 billion in Q4 2023 and 3 percent year-over-year to $63.2 billion in 2023, which included Postpaid service revenue growth of 6% year-over-year in Q4 2023 and 6% growth year-over-year in 2023.
- Net income increased 36% year-over-year to $2.0 billion in Q4 2023 and increased 221 percent year-over-year to $8.3 billion in 2023, which included Merger-related costs, net of tax, of $775 million.
- Diluted EPS increased year-over-year to $1.67 per share in Q4 2023 and increased year-over-year to $6.93 per share in 2023. Diluted EPS also reflected the impact of 48.8 million shares issued to SoftBank Group in Q4 2023.
- Core Adjusted EBITDA increased nine percent year-over-year to $7.2 billion in Q4 2023 and increased 10% year-over-year to $29.1 billion in 2023.
- Net cash provided by operating activities increased 12 percent year-over-year to $4.9 billion in Q4 2023 and increased 11% year-over-year to $18.6 billion in 2023, which included cash payments for Merger-related costs of $416 million in Q4 2023 and $2.0 billion in 2023.
- Cash purchases of property and equipment, including capitalized interest, decreased 53% year-over-year to $1.6 billion in Q4 2023 and decreased 30 percent year-over-year to $9.8 billion in 2023.
Stockholder Returns included 15.5 million shares of common stock repurchased for $2.2 billion in Q4 2023, and 92.9 million shares repurchased for $13.2 billion in 2023, with 114.3 million cumulative shares repurchased for $16.2 billion as of December 31, 2023. The remaining authorization for stock repurchases and dividends through December 2024 is $16.0 billion, including the next quarterly cash dividend, which will be payable on March 14, 2024.
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