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Verizon (NYSE:VZ) shares added more than 2% in early trading on Wednesday as the company’s chief executive said the telecom giant added subscribers in its fourth-quarter and would cut its spending plans for 2023 amid the weak global economy.
Speaking at an investment conference held by Citi, Verizon (VZ) CEO Hans Vestberg said the firm added subscribers on a net basis in the fourth-quarter. He added the health of the consumer was still “good” and that store traffic had improved.
In October, Verizon (VZ) said it added just 8,000 postpaid phone subscribers during the third-quarter, well below estimates and the 708,000 total postpaid phone subscribers that rival AT&T (T) added during the same period.
Vestberg also noted that Verizon (VZ) was still figuring out its capital spending plan for 2023, but said the company would cut capital expenditures to about $17B this year and in 2024.
“Our ultimate goal is cash generation,” the 57-year-old Vestberg said at the conference.
In conjunction with its third-quarter results, Verizon (VZ) said in October that it would start a cost savings plan to take out between $2B and $3B in annual expenses by 2025.
Also appearing at the conference was Verizon’s (VZ) network chief, Kyle Malady, who added that the major portion of building the company’s 5G network was done at this point.
Last month, investment firm Oppenheimer listed Verizon (VZ) among its top cloud and communications stocks for 2023 for a variety of reasons.
