U.S. Cellular (USM) Q2 Earnings: Taking a Look at Key Metrics Versus Estimates

Core Insights - United States Cellular (USM) reported a revenue of $927 million for the quarter ended June 2024, reflecting a decrease of 3.1% year-over-year, while EPS increased to $0.20 from $0.05 in the same quarter last year, surpassing the consensus EPS estimate of $0.10 by 100% [1] Financial Performance - Revenue of $927 million compared to Zacks Consensus Estimate of $924.97 million, resulting in a surprise of +0.22% [1] - EPS of $0.20 compared to the consensus estimate of $0.10, indicating a surprise of +100.00% [1] Key Metrics - Postpaid churn rate was 1.2%, slightly above the average estimate of 1.1% [3] - Retail connections for prepaid saw a net addition of 3 million, significantly better than the estimated loss of 8.3 million [3] - Total connections stood at 4.47 million, close to the average estimate of 4.5 million [4] - Retail connections for postpaid experienced a net loss of 24 million, better than the estimated loss of 41.91 million [4] - Prepaid churn rate was 3.6%, lower than the average estimate of 4.1% [5] - Prepaid ARPU was $32.37, slightly below the average estimate of $32.42 [6] - Postpaid ARPU was $51.45, also below the average estimate of $51.87 [7] - Total retail connections for prepaid at the end of the period were 439 thousand, exceeding the average estimate of 428.56 thousand [7] - Gross additions for retail connections in postpaid were 117 million, surpassing the average estimate of 94.94 million [7] - Total retail connections for postpaid at the end of the period were 4.03 million, slightly above the average estimate of 4.01 million [8] - Operating revenues from equipment sales were $184 million, exceeding the average estimate of $179.92 million [8] - Operating revenues from service were $743 million, marginally below the average estimate of $743.47 million [9] Stock Performance - Shares of U.S. Cellular have returned -2.6% over the past month, compared to the Zacks S&P 500 composite's -0.4% change [9] - The stock currently holds a Zacks Rank 3 (Hold), suggesting it may perform in line with the broader market in the near term [9]