Why is Verizon stock sliding today?

Verizon Communications stock fell 2.8% in morning trading after the company’s third-quarter results, released before today’s open, delivered a notable revenue miss that overshadowed an earnings beat and a raised full-year outlook. Verizon reported adjusted EPS of $1.31, topping analyst consensus, while revenue of $34.31 billion missed estimates. Management raised guidance for the third straight quarter, lifting postpaid phone net additions guidance to 1.1–1.2 million, adjusted EPS growth to 7.0%–7.5% from 6.0%–7.0%, and free cash flow growth to approximately 12% from 9%–10%. Alongside the results, Verizon also expanded its AI infrastructure partnership with Amazon Web Services in a deal valued at over $2 billion.

Despite those positives, the revenue shortfall proved difficult for investors to overlook, particularly given the competitive backdrop. The company remains cautious about potential competition from satellite networks like SpaceX’s Starlink, emphasizing its strong terrestrial network advantage and ongoing technological advancements. On October 9, the day after SpaceX agreed to buy nationwide low-band spectrum reportedly worth about $8 billion, Verizon fell sharply — its worst day since 2002. Then, a Bloomberg report that SpaceX is in talks to access at least 80,000 U.S. cell sites, a step toward a fourth nationwide carrier, sent AT&T and T-Mobile each falling nearly 8%, while Verizon lost only about 1%. That relative resilience heading into earnings made the revenue miss all the more jarring for bulls.

The broader market offered no cover for Verizon’s decline. The S&P 500 is up 0.5%, the Dow Jones up 0.4%, and the Nasdaq up 0.4% during today’s session, meaning the selling in VZ is entirely company-specific. Scotiabank recently maintained a Sector Perform rating on the stock while lowering its price target from $52 to $50, adding a layer of cautious analyst sentiment ahead of the print. The company added 406,000 postpaid subscribers in Q3, nearly double analyst estimates, and 137,000 postpaid net accounts, its best performance in over a decade, yet even those standout operational metrics were insufficient to offset the top-line disappointment in a market already on edge about satellite competition.

In sum, today’s decline reflects a classic "buy the rumor, sell the news" dynamic compounded by a meaningful revenue miss. Results were strong on subscriber momentum and earnings but light on revenue, leaving investors to weigh a raised outlook against a top-line shortfall. With SpaceX’s competitive threat still unresolved and the stock trading well below its 52-week high of $51.68, the market is signaling that raised guidance alone is not enough to restore full confidence in Verizon’s near-term revenue trajectory.