Should You Worry That Verizon Stopped Leading With This One Metric? Trefis Team Wed, October 7, 2026 at 12:57 PM EDT 3 min read VZ +0.07% ^GSPC -0.23% T +0.55% SPGI -0.48% TMUS +1.82% Explore stocks on Coinbase Trading disclosure Trading disclosure The above button links to Coinbase. Yahoo Finance is not a broker-dealer or investment adviser and does not offer securities or cryptocurrencies for sale or facilitate trading. Coinbase pays us for certain activity generated through this link. Prices displayed are informational.
Verizon Communications (VZ) stock trades at 11.9 times earnings, compared to 21.5 for the S&P 500. Investors tempted by even that modest valuation still need to understand the underlying business, and the company has recently shifted its focus. Back in July 2025, executives highlighted wireless service revenue, its revenue from mobile service, as their key metric. Today, they emphasize a different figure. So which number does Verizon want you to watch now?
That metric is mobility and broadband service revenue, a figure combining mobile and home internet services. During the fiscal Q2 2026 earnings call on July 24, 2026, the company raised its full-year 2026 guidance for this combined measure to a range of 2.5% to 3.0%, up from its previous 2.0% to 3.0% forecast. Alongside that financial forecast, it introduced Verizon One, a plan bundling mobility and broadband onto a single bill.
The tone was noticeably different a year earlier. During the fiscal Q2 2025 call, executives pointed specifically to "market-leading wireless service revenue" to illustrate a strong quarter. The company still generates more than half of its revenue from wireless service. Out of $34.3 billion in total revenue for fiscal Q2 2026, that service accounted for $20.8 billion.
These two measures moved in opposite directions during fiscal Q2 2026. Wireless service revenue declined 0.7% from the previous year. Over the same period, mobility and broadband service revenue climbed 2.8% to reach $23.4 billion.
This growth stems from home internet rather than mobile service, driven primarily by the inclusion of Frontier Communications following the January 2026 acquisition alongside 348,000 organic broadband net additions during the quarter.
There is mild cause for concern, given that Verizon relies on wireless service for more than half of its revenue, and that revenue declined in the latest quarter. Even before this recent drop, the company faced slow growth and a heavy debt burden. Revenue increased at an average annual rate of just 1.0% over three years, compared to 5.8% for the S&P 500. Furthermore, debt equals 98.3% of its market value, sitting far above 20.8% for the broader index.
During the July 2026 call, the company noted that past promotions continue to weigh on results, though executives believe this drag has finally peaked. They expect the pressure to ease steadily through the second half of 2026 and into 2027. Verizon also forecast third-quarter growth to approach 3% for its mobility and broadband service revenue, a figure it has not yet reported.
Verizon is expected to report third-quarter results on or around October 26, 2026. Until that update arrives, the strategic shift is a mild concern: the combined metric Verizon now highlights is growing, but its wireless service revenue is not. A positive Q3 print would not be a surprise, but rather an execution test against Verizon's own guidance: management projected full-year wireless service revenue to finish roughly flat, with year-over-year comparisons turning positive across the second half of 2026.
Now you know VZ better. And that's our purpose: to make you informed before you invest your money. However, making a bet on a single stock carries its own risks.
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