5 Things Verizon Communications Inc's Management Wants You to Know

Source: Verizon Wireless.

Verizon Communications reported its fourth-quarter earnings last week. While it beat analyst estimates on the top line, posting revenue of $31.07 billion for the quarter, its earnings per share fell below analysts' expectations by a penny, coming in at $0.71. The company added 2 million net postpaid connections with the majority being tablets, a growth driver for the company going forward.

After the earnings release, CFO Fran Shammo spoke with analysts on a conference call. Here are five of the most important takeaways from Shammo's comments.

Price cuts aren't going to happen

Last quarter, Verizon's 1.14% churn was notably higher than its recent past. Verizon's previous two-year high for churn rate was 1.07% in the first quarter of last year. 1.14% is significantly higher than the 0.96% churn rate the company experienced in the same period in 2013 and the 0.95% in the strong upgrade cycle in the fourth quarter of 2012.

One driving force for churn may have been the iPhone upgrade cycle. As mentioned, many customers upgraded to a new iPhone in 2012 with a two-year contract. With those contracts expiring last quarter, some customers chose to go to competitors like AT&T or T-Mobile .

T-Mobile has put pricing pressure on the industry, and AT&T has started offering more value for the dollar in response. Verizon, meanwhile, has largely tried to position itself as a premium product with premium pricing, and Shammo says it's not going to change that.

Revenue growth is coming from upgrades

Verizon added 1.5 million new 4G customers during the fourth quarter, and the company ended the year with about 54.7 million 4G smartphone customers. The goal for the company is to get nearly all of its customers on 4G smartphones. It currently has about 66% of postpaid connections on its 4G network, so there's still room to grow.

Converting 3G customers (of which Verizon has about 13 million) to 4G customers carries additional benefits besides higher revenue. Its 4G network is more efficient, so costs are reduced, and upgrading customers allows Verizon to re-appropriate its 3G spectrum.

Tablets represent a big opportunity

Verizon ended the year with about 8 million tablet subscribers. That number is growing rapidly, though. Last quarter, the company added 1.4 million net 4G tablet subscribers. For the full year, it added 4.3 million net tablets.

Tablets represent an opportunity to move customers up the ladder in its data plans, encouraging them to pay more for more data. As a result of the increased number of tablet users, More Everything subscribers used an average of 50% more data last quarter than the year-ago period. So, Verizon is able to grow revenue from adding new devices and upgrading data plans at the same time.

Cash is king

This is an obvious shot by Shammo at players like T-Mobile, which has been operating with negative free cash flow for more than a year now as it offers heavy promotions to attract customers. Meanwhile, AT&T has seen a decline in free cash flow as well, falling below Verizon's levels (which are boosted by its acquisition of Verizon Wireless).

While Shammo didn't give any forward guidance on cash flow, he guided for an increase of at least 4% in revenue with consistent margins. Meanwhile, T-Mobile's management forecast positive free cash flow for 2015 at an investor conference earlier this month.

Living on the Edge

Shammo projected that Edge -- which allows customers to upgrade early and pay for their device over 24 months rather than paying for it all upfront -- will grow even more popular this year. Last quarter, the percentage of phone activations on the Edge program reached 25%, more than double its third-quarter level.

Edge customers carry a couple of key benefits. First, subsidy costs disappear, and Verizon is able to book revenue for the full cost of the phone under device sales. Second, it actually makes the customer stickier. In AT&T's second-quarter earnings report, it noted the average customer lifespan on its Next program (which is similar to Edge) was 116 months versus 98 months on the subsidy model.

On the other hand, the increase in Edge customers will have its cash flow trail its revenue. So, when Shammo guided for a 4% increase in revenue, part of that is coming from Edge customers who pay for their phone over a two-year period. However, Verizon accounts for 95% of smartphone sales upfront in its revenue.

Nothing surprisingVerizon didn't report anything particularly surprising, and Shammo didn't make any comments that were out of the ordinary. While the company missed on the bottom line, it wasn't a big miss, and its outlook for 2015 remains largely unchanged. Shammo did a good job of outlining the important things to keep an eye on.

The article 5 Things Verizon Communications Inc's Management Wants You to Know originally appeared on Fool.com.

Adam Levy has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Verizon Communications. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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