AT&T Rises 4.3% After CEO Dismisses Starlink Competition on Q2 EPS Beat

According to CNBC interviews and company filings, AT&T shares rose 4.3% in premarket trading on Wednesday after the company beat Q2 earnings expectations, with CEO John Stankey dismissing concerns about SpaceX Starlink competition. AT&T reported earnings per share of $0.65, exceeding Wall Street estimates of $0.59, though revenue of $31.6 billion slightly missed the consensus forecast of $31.8 billion.

In a CNBC interview, Stankey stated that AT&T already handles 98% of traffic across its network and does not currently need a dedicated satellite partner. He noted that Starlink and other competitors "are coming to the game very late" and must "catch up with substantial amounts of infrastructure investment that's been going on for decades." His comments follow SpaceX's June announcement of plans to launch a Starlink-branded retail mobile service, which prompted multiple Wall Street downgrade warnings about potential competitive threats to AT&T's 109 million mobile subscribers.