Verizon reported first-quarter 2026 results on April 21 and said it posted its first positive first-quarter postpaid phone net additions since 2013, a turnaround the company tied to better customer economics and tighter operations. The carrier also raised its 2026 adjusted earnings forecast after saying postpaid phone additions improved by more than 340,000 from a year earlier.
Dan Schulman, Verizon's chief executive, said the results show the turnaround is not just continuing but gathering pace. He said the company is trying to win back market leadership by putting the customer first, cutting friction and building loyalty, and he pointed to healthier economics, lower churn and the first positive first-quarter postpaid phone net adds in more than a decade. Verizon now expects 2026 adjusted EPS to grow 5.0 percent to 6.0 percent year over year, and it sees total retail postpaid phone net additions landing in the upper half of its 750,000 to one million range.
The quarter extends a strategic transformation Verizon has been pressing as it works through a competitive wireless market and a broader shift in how it manages growth. The company said better customer acquisition, lower churn and operational efficiency supported the results. Verizon also said Frontier results were included in its financial and operating results beginning Jan. 20, 2026, a change that affects comparisons with earlier periods. The company generated $138.2 billion in revenue in 2025.
The cleanest reading of the quarter is that Verizon is seeing the first hard evidence that its reset is working, but the test now is whether it can hold that progress while defending margin and keeping churn down. Investors who have been tracking the stock in the run-up to the report, including readers of recent coverage such as Vz Stock Eyes Earnings as Verizon Heads Into Monday Report, will be looking for the same thing: whether the improvement is broad enough to last.
For now, Verizon is saying the numbers are real enough to raise guidance. What comes next is whether the gains in phone additions and customer economics become the new baseline, or just one strong quarter in a longer repair job.
